Sith'ari
by StormieSkywalker
Summary: Very AU! In this story, Anakin is born into the royal family of the planet of Demetria. But Palpatine still finds Anakin even on this unknown world and convinces the boy to become his apprentice... Please see author's note.
1. Prologue

Before we begin the story…The Dreaded Author's Notes:

I'd like to thank Alien Roxi for being the final push to convincing me to try to get this mental story written where others can see it. I can't promise much in the way of regular updates right now…full-time job, searching for a better full-time job, and other life things are taking up a lot of my time but I'm going to do my best here.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars. I don't own any characters or locations recognizable from canon (although I might lay claim to the new people I shall be introducing as Anakin's family and the new planet I have created to be his home planet). Besides which, I'm broke, so suing me would only get you a car with too many problems and a lame DVD collection LOL.

Anyways, without further ado…a quick synopsis then let's start the story!

SYNOPSIS: VERY AU!!! Anakin, rather than being born a slave boy on Tatooine to a virgin mother, is born the son of a runaway prince-turned-mechanic and his commoner wife on the planet of Demetria. Not only that, but he has an older brother and a twin sister. When his mother is killed by robbers and the family's shop and home are burned to the ground, Anakin's father, Alaric, is forced to turn to his brother, King Rurik, for assistance. When their planet, which is in Wild Space beyond Naboo, applies to join the Republic, one of the visiting dignitaries from the Republic is none other than Senator Palpatine. Palpatine, recognizing the raw Force potential in Anakin, gives the young boy two options: become his apprentice…or watch his family die.

WARNING: Yes, this story is dark. Yes, characters will die terrible, undeserved deaths, which I will try to not make too explicitly grisly. But the story will lighten up as it goes on; I promise!!!

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This story begins on the outskirts of the city of Kimberley, the government seat of the planet of Demetria. A young prince named Alaric has fallen in love with a commoner woman named Shmi; knowing that Alaric's father would never approve, the two have chosen to elope. They meet at their prearranged time, neither carrying anything more than flimsi proving their identities, a change of clothes, some money, and an application for their marriage license that the young prince had fooled his father into signing.

They are wed that night in the neighboring hamlet of Westley. The two young lovers build themselves a home in Westley and Alaric opens a mechanic's shop to pay their bills. Eleven months later, Shmi gives birth to a son, who they name Mahaja. Times are good for the small family; business is booming in the shop, Alaric's family is still none-the-wiser as to Alaric's whereabouts, and baby Mahaja is healthy and strong. But secretly, Alaric is concerned, for he fears that a deep secret his family has hidden for years may now come to light.

Alaric's ancestors were not born on the planet of Demetria. This is common knowledge; after all, the ruling family has the clan name of Skywalker. What is not common knowledge is the reason that the ancient Skywalkers came to discover Demetria, just after the Ruusan Reformation. The first Skywalkers were a self-exiled Jedi Lord who disagreed with the decision to place the Jedi Order under the control of the Senate and his wife. The Lord Skywalker had found himself drawn to the quadrant of Wild Space containing Demetria and, upon locating the planet, the Lord Skywalker and his wife set down on the surface. They found that the natives of Demetria were Humans who lived off the land and had no interest in traveling to the stars. The natives found the Skywalkers to be fascinating and, after the Skywalkers used more modern technologies and knowledge to triple the crop yield during their first year on the planet, the natives elected the Skywalkers as their leaders…and thus it had been ever since. As a result of both Jedi heritage and the Skywalker tendency to fall for Force-sensitives among the native Demetrians, nearly all Skywalkers were born Force-sensitive. An incident around 750 years before Mahaja's birth, however, when a Skywalker had turned to the dark side and almost brought ruin upon the world, had led to the Skywalker clan choosing to forbid its members from learning the ways of the Force. In fact, so many years had passed since there had been a trained Skywalker that the planet's commoners no longer even realized that their rulers had Force-sensitivity…and due to the planet's isolation—in the bounds of the Republic, only a few smugglers even realized Demetria was there—the modern Jedi Order had never discovered this small pocket of Force-sensitives.

Fortunately for Alaric, Mahaja never exhibited any of the unconscious uses of the Force that some Skywalker babies would, and so for almost four years Alaric was spared having to explain the Force to his wife.

After Mahaja turned four, Alaric and Shmi decided to try for another child. Two months later, Shmi found herself pregnant once again, this time with twins. When the new babies were born—a girl and a boy—Alaric and Shmi gave them the names of Anakin and Nalini. Yet this time it was obvious from the beginning that Alaric would not have such an easy time keeping his family's heritage hidden, as the twins seemed to communicate with each other without words and seemed to find it rather humorous to use the Force, however unconsciously, to make their mobile move and grab toys—and other items—placed out of their reach. Alaric, at his wit's end after finding baby Anakin playing with the datapad containing all the accounting information for his shop, finally chose to tell Shmi his family's secret. After that, anything they didn't want the twins getting their hands on was kept either locked up or pinned down.

Of course, it would be nice to be able to say that this little family managed to stay hidden forever, with the children marrying off while their parents watched with tear-filled eyes, producing children of their own and so on and so forth…but it didn't happen that way. Rather, right around when the twins celebrated their fourth life-day, Demetria entered a drought and the economy plummeted. As a response to the sudden slowing of the economy, some of the citizens of Westley turned to crime and drugs to support themselves when they lost their jobs or their businesses failed. And so it happened that one night, as Alaric and his family were sleeping, thieves entered their shop. Alaric and Shmi awakened to the alarms and ran to the shop to see what was happening.

Unbeknownst to them, their younger son had also been awakened…not by the alarms—all of their children were deep sleepers, able to sleep through most anything—but rather by a persistent feeling that something very bad was about to happen. As the feeling strengthened, Anakin jumped out of bed and forced his brother and sister to wake up. Realizing that the alarms were sounding, Mahaja grabbed the young twins and pulled them under the bed with him. A few minutes passed…and suddenly Anakin felt ill as a wave of _terror _washed over him. The sick feeling only worsened as Anakin realized, strangely enough, that the terror was actually someone else's. Anakin unconsciously reached out to track down the source of the feeling that was making him so ill…and then broke his brother's hold on him, realizing that the terror he was feeling was coming from his parents, that they weren't alone (although he had no idea how he knew other people were there), and that the people with them weren't nice. As he bolted, his brother and sister gave chase.

The children opened the door to the shop just in time to see their father fighting two of the burglars. The third burglar, realizing that he and his fellow criminals had no choice but to flee before law enforcement arrived, drew a small blaster. He lifted the blaster and, as the children cried out in alarm, pulled the trigger. The children dashed into the shop as Shmi crumpled to the floor. Alaric stopped fighting and ran to his wife; the three burglars escaped into the night. As an afterthought, one of the burglars threw a lighter into the shop as he fled. It was half an hour later when law enforcement arrived; they pulled up to the home to find the entire shop and house engulfed in flames, with Alaric holding the lifeless body of his wife while Mahaja, Anakin, and Nalini cried and begged their mother to wake up…


	2. A New Home

**Yet Another Dreaded Author's Note:**

Okay, I am not so cruel as to leave the story hanging with such a dark scene…so I will go ahead and put up two chapters here in my first night of writing the story! Please, don't come to expect two chapters every time I update just because I did it this time…but I really wasn't expecting my very first chapter to have such a natural ending-point with such a dark scene…

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars. I don't own any characters or locations recognizable from canon (although I might lay claim to the new people I shall be introducing as Anakin's family and the new planet I have created to be his home planet). Besides which, I'm broke, so suing me would only get you a car with too many problems and a lame DVD collection LOL.

* * *

The next morning, Alaric, Mahaja, Anakin, and Nalini found themselves in a rented landspeeder. Shmi was gone. Their home was gone. They had no means by which to start over; the burglars and the fire had taken everything from them. And therefore Alaric was forced to make one of the most difficult choices of his life: to go home. To return to Kimberley. To tell his brother where he had been for the past decade (for his father had passed on a few years before). And then, Alaric knew, he would have to beg his brother, the King of Demetria, Rurik of the Clan of the Skywalkers, to have mercy on him and his children and provide them with shelter, clothing, and food until they could get back onto their feet, as well as a proper burial for Shmi.

When they arrived at Raleigh—the Castle District of Kimberley—the children were in awe. The great white walls of the castle and the enormous size of the courtyard were staggering to the young Skywalkers; twenty of their old house could have fit in the front courtyard alone! The guards nearly fainted with Alaric pulled up to the front gate and told them his name; the children all suddenly turned their heads to regard their father with shock. He had always told them that their family name was Freeborn and they had never had reason to question him until now.

The head guard pulled out his comlink and called the King; moments later, he handed the comlink to Alaric. Alaric spoke quietly into the comlink. "Yes, dear brother, I've returned. If you could please give leave to open the gate, I will happily explain everything."

On King Rurik's word, the guards opened the gate and Alaric pulled on through. Once they were out of the guards' earshot, Alaric spoke to his children. "I'm sorry I never told any of you before. I never expected to come back here. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and I wasn't about to have our family living on the streets until we could rebuild when this option was a possibility."

Mahaja whispered, "Does this mean we're not really Freeborns? We're really Skywalkers?"

Alaric nodded. "Yes and no, Mahaja. I legally changed my name to Freeborn the same night I married…your mother." His voiced cracked slightly; it took him a moment before he could continue. "You and your siblings are Freeborns by birth…but you are Skywalkers by blood."

Right around this time, they pulled up to the steps leading to the front portal to the castle proper. Alaric's voice took a tone of command. "Children, it is very important that you follow the instructions I am about to give you. I need you all to follow me quietly. I know you'll have questions. I promise to answer them later. But for this moment I need to convince your uncle that the three of you belong here just as much as I do. Can you do this for me?"

The three children nodded quietly. Alaric climbed out of the speeder; his children followed him in silence as they all climbed the stairs. Once at the top, the door opened as though of its own will, revealing a guard. When everyone was inside, the guard spoke. "If you will follow me, I will take you to King Rurik."

And so the small family followed the guard through the castle. He stopped at the portal to the throne room and, after giving Alaric a curt nod, opened the door. Alaric stepped through the portal with his back straight and his head held high, his children following in silence behind him with their heads bowed and their hands clasped. Once they were inside, the door closed behind them.

It was the king who spoke first. "Alaric, it's about time you reappeared! Where have you been all this time? And who are the children?"

Alaric took a deep breath and stepped toward his brother. "As you asked, I will answer. I have been in the hamlet of Westley, running a mechanic's shop with my wife. These are my children, Mahaja, Anakin, and Nalini. This past night, thieves came into my shop. When the alarms went off, my wife and I went to find out what was amiss. In our attempts to remove the burglars from the shop, my wife was shot and killed. As if that wasn't enough, the same vagabond who shot my wife threw a lighter into the shop as he and his two accomplices fled, burning the shop and the house to the ground. I have returned here because we have nowhere else to go and no funds to give my wife a proper burial."

Rurik nodded slowly. "I see. Well, of course your wife's burial must take top priority. Meanwhile, I will do everything I can to see that her murderer is found. What were your plans for the interim?"

Alaric looked away. "I was hoping that you might be able to provide us with shelter until the economy works itself out. I could help the castle's maintenance crew in order to pay for our board…"

Rurik stopped Alaric with a wave of his hand. "Nonsense! Alaric, I have spent a decade worried sick about you! You up and disappear on myself and our father without a word or a hint as to where you might be going. You never contact us in any way to let us know you're alive. And now you suddenly reappear with three younglings in tow and tell me that in the past decade you have been married and living only a short distance away, presumably under a different name, and you ask me to simply keep you around as a hired hand until the economy rights itself?" Rurik took a deep breath and noted that his brother had paled about three shades. The king then smiled and laughed. "Alaric, you and the children can not only stay until the economy rights itself, but I'd nearly prefer if you never left my sight again! At this rate, if I let you leave when the economy is back to rights, the next time I see you you'll have white hair and will have grandchildren tagging along behind you!"

The children all looked up at their uncle and smiled as their father chuckled low. "Yes, that would never do, would it?" Alaric commented. He then sighed. "If you are so insistent that we stay, then we will."

Three days later, Shmi was buried in a small private ceremony, with only the Skywalkers and Shmi's family in attendance. Rurik hired a private tutor for the children, much to Alaric's surprise and the children's distaste. Despite Rurik's insistence that Alaric didn't need to work to earn his keep, Alaric spent a great deal of his days working on the palace's landspeeders. Only after Alaric explained to his brother that working on the speeders kept his mind away from Shmi did Rurik stop complaining.

And so went the next three years, with the children quietly enduring their lessons on becoming proper little royal children, Alaric working on the palace's speeders (with his sons occasionally joining him; it quickly became apparent that Anakin had inherited his father's knack with mechanics while Mahaja had not), and Rurik kindly yet firmly trying to guide his planet through its depression and drought while pressing every investigator he had at his disposal to discover the identity of the man who had killed his sister-in-law. But it soon became apparent that the drought had no intention of letting up any time soon...and so long as the drought continued, there was no hope of the depression ending. And so it was with a heavy heart that King Rurik sent out a desperate message with a smuggler who had come to Demetria with supplies from Naboo to help the stricken planet. A message that would mean a change in life as the Demetrians knew it: a request for assistance from the Republic the Skywalker clan had shunned for so long, with coordinates for the planet.

* * *

NEXT CHAPTER: Republic officials come to Demetria to assess the situation

I know, I know; so far the story has been a bunch of OCs and setting up the Skywalker clan. Next chapter, I promise, things will get more interesting and we'll start seeing people we know from the canon! Also, I will try to start making the story a bit more Anakin-centric starting with the next chapter.

Reviews would be greatly appreciated so I know what I can improve and how much interest there is in the story.


	3. Sith on Demetria

**The Dreaded Yet Expected Author's Note:**

Firstly, I'd like to thank my reviewer. I do hope others join her, but until then, I'll just keep writing and hoping…speaking of, I do apologize for the delay; the Real World got in the way of my best attempts to get this written.

I did a search but couldn't find anything on how the Old Republic dealt with applications from new planets wishing to join…I did find a bit on how the New Republic admitted new members, so I'm going to base my chapter loosely on that. Also, yes, Mahaja is only 12 and the twins only 7 in this chapter. I'm aware they may be acting somewhat mature for their ages by Earth standards…but then again, Padmé was a queen at the young age of 14 and I'd say Ani was pretty mature in TPM. Anyways, without further ado…

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars; that distinction belongs to the Great Flanneled One. I don't own any characters or locations recognizable from canon (although I might lay claim to the new people I shall be introducing as Anakin's family and the new planet I have created to be his home planet). Besides which, I'm broke, so suing me would only get you a car with too many problems and a lame DVD collection LOL.

* * *

It was two standard months before the delegation from the Galactic Senate arrived, bearing a copy of the Galactic Constitution and the Coruscant Accords for review. Five representatives had come: Semaj Aditya (the senator representing the neighboring Arkanis Sector), Palpatine (the senator representing the Chommell Sector beyond that), Com Fordox (the senator representing the Corellian Sector), Agrippa Aldrete (the senator representing the Alderaan Sector), and Jedi Master Mace Windu of the Jedi High Council.

Seven-year-old Anakin Skywalker stood between his copper-haired hazel-eyed twin and blond-haired hazel-eyed older brother. All three of the children stood behind their uncle and father, who were standing forward on the platform as the craft carrying the Republic delegates was making its final descent. Anakin forced himself not to fidget; after all, fidgeting was not the way of a prince. It was comforting for him to feel that his brother and sister were fighting the same urge—Anakin wasn't certain how it was possible for him to feel his brother and sister's emotions but he could. It had been unsettling when he first consciously realized that some of the emotions he had felt through his youth were not his own but, in times such as these, he did appreciate his strange ability, even if his uncle and father frowned upon him acknowledging it.

The sleek silver-skinned ship finally set down on the platform—a platform that had not seen a space-faring vessel in nearly a millennium. Anakin, Nalini, and their older brother, Mahaja, all watched their Uncle Rurik and father, Alaric, for the subtle Demetrian body language that would tell them what to do. As the vessel's ramp began to descent, Alaric gave his children the signal to move to attention—backs straight, eyes straight ahead, feet at shoulder-width, and right hands clasping their left wrists behind their backs. The youths all obeyed their father's command wordlessly—on Demetria, words were often unnecessary, especially in moments like this. The smugglers that had often visited Demetria tended to find this lack of verbosity to be unsettling at the least, especially when they figured out that their hosts could actually hold entire conversations amongst themselves with no more than subtle changes in posture, slight hand-signals, and fleeting facial expressions.

As the delegates disembarked, Rurik stepped forward to greet them. Once all the delegates stood on the platform, nothing more than the slightest shift of Rurik's head and a tiny gesture with his left hand signaled for the rest of his family to come forward to him. Rurik then quickly introduced Alaric, Mahaja, Anakin, and Nalini to the delegation. Following this, each of the delegates introduced themselves in turn, with Jedi Master Mace Windu explaining that his presence was required by the Coruscant Accords and that, despite the apparent Force-sensitivity of the entire family, he was not there to try to convince the Skywalkers to return to the Jedi. Anakin noticed Rurik give Alaric a small gesture of relief; he wasn't surprised, as he'd felt his uncle and father's apprehension ever since it was announced that a Jedi would be accompanying the delegates. Yet hearing the reason for the adults' discomfort disturbed Anakin somewhat and he decided to ask his father about it later.

As the Skywalker clan all turned to lead the delegates off the platform, Anakin decided to try and get a read on the delegates. Master Windu gave the young boy an amused expression as he felt the child's untrained attempt to touch his mind; Anakin almost reeled back in shock. He had never before met someone whose feelings he could not touch. After a moment, Anakin put a determined expression on his face and moved on to the others. Senator Aditya radiated curiosity; Anakin surmised that the Senator had likely never even realized that Demetria existed. Any person would be curious about a neighbor they had never even realized existed. Senator Fordox radiated boredom and irritability; although outwardly he was the picture of calm composure, Anakin realized that the man did not want to be part of this and was in a hurry to get back to wherever he'd come from. Senator Aldrete radiated the calmness that Senator Fordox showed outwardly and Anakin smiled as Aldrete suddenly turned to Mahaja and asked him to tell him about a plant in the gardens they were passing. Anakin now turned his perceptions to Senator Palpatine…and almost stopped in his tracks. Senator Palpatine's aura itself was quite readable…but Anakin realized almost immediately that this senator was hiding something, and it wasn't a little something either. The boy fought an urge to shiver as a cold feeling suddenly swept over him, engulfing him.

Palpatine, for his part, frowned as he felt a young untrained mind try to touch his own. His mental frown became even deeper than his visible one when he realized that this boy, despite his lack of training, possessed so much raw Force ability that he had been able to see what all of the Jedi on Coruscant had failed to see: firstly, that Palpatine was hiding something, and secondly, the smallest stirring of darkness surrounding him. Immediately the gears in Palpatine's head started turning. There was no way that the Skywalkers would ever give one of their own to the Jedi, let alone the Sith. Kriff, if the stories from this planet were true, it had been generations since the Skywalkers had allowed any of their line to train in the ways of the Force. Yet Palpatine hungered to have the bearer of this young, raw, untapped potential bowing at his feet and addressing him as Master…

Palpatine suddenly realized that the Force had guided him over to the boy twin, Anakin. He cleared his throat to call for the boy's attention. Anakin looked up at him and plastered a fake smile on his face—of course, the boy was the spawn of politicians and, as such, the smile would have fooled Palpatine as genuine were it not for his Force-sensitivity. Anakin asked, quietly, "Can I help you with something, Senator Palpatine?"

Palpatine fought the urge to smirk. "Ah, I was merely wondering if you might be willing to escort me around the grounds later. The architecture of this building is fascinating; it almost reminds me of Naboo, yet not."

Anakin nodded. "I would be glad to show you around, Senator…but are you certain you don't want Uncle Rurik or my father to show you around instead? I'm certain they know far more about the building than…"

Palpatine chuckled, causing Anakin to stop his monologue. "No, young one, I'm quite certain I'd prefer to have you as my guide. I will explain later…I promise."

* * *

Once everyone had gathered in the Throne Room of the castle, the delegation began to review the Coruscant Accords and the Constitution with Rurik and Alaric, with Jedi Master Windu standing aside, watching the proceedings and making certain things went smoothly. Anakin sat in the corner with Mahaja and Nalini; the three children were holding their own conversation in the Demetrian way.

"I'm not sure about that Senator Palpatine person…" Anakin commented to his siblings through a slight inclination of his head and a slight hand gesture indicating anxiety.

"Why not?" Mahaja asked through a slight tilting of his head toward his right shoulder.

Anakin shrugged slightly, knowing that if he answered that he simply had a "bad feeling" about the man or anything else referencing his strange ability to read people, his brother and sister would completely discredit his concern. He quietly gestured through a few signs that the Naboo senator had asked him to play the role of tour guide after the meeting had ended.

Mahaja and Nalini both lifted their eyebrows in skepticism and tilted their heads to the right, asking why the senator would choose Anakin and not one of the adults. Anakin lifted one eyebrow and pursed his lips, indicating that this was part of the reason he wasn't quite sure about the senator. Mahaja blinked and bowed his head slightly, showing that he now understood and deferred to Anakin's appraisal of the senator, then reached out and gently held his brother's wrists for a moment, displaying his trust in young Anakin. Anakin smiled slightly and blinked, thanking Mahaja. As Mahaja released Anakin, he brushed two fingers of his right hand over the back of his left, asking his brother to be careful. Anakin bowed his head slightly and blinked as his brother had before, agreeing with his brother and promising caution.

The talks had ended by this point with Rurik signing the final papers granting Demetria entry into the Galactic Republic. After congratulatory handshakes were exchanged all around, most of the senators—and Master Windu—asked the way to their chambers for the night. Senator Palpatine, however, walked over to the trio of children standing in the corner. "I'm impressed by the three of you," Palpatine began. "When I was younger, there is no way I could have sat through a meeting like that without saying a word!"

Anakin's earlier display of mistrust convinced the children not to correct the Naboo senator's assumption. Mahaja replied, showing proper deference, "Today's events will be celebrated for years to come, Senator. We are honored to have been allowed to witness the entry of our homeworld into the Republic."

Palpatine chuckled and turned to Anakin. "I believe you promised me a tour, youngling…would tonight be good for me to redeem your promise?"

Anakin nodded. "Of course. Where would you like to begin?"

* * *

Anakin led Palpatine through the castle, pointing out things that his uncle and father had shown him before. He told Palpatine the names of the different rulers displayed in the Hall of Holos and pointed out the ancient Jedi Lord Skywalker's lightsaber, as well as a portrait of the Jedi Lord wielding the 'saber with its golden-hued blade activated.

Once the indoor tour had concluded, Palpatine asked Anakin to show him the courtyard. Once they were in the gardens, hidden from guards and the castle's occupants alike, Palpatine turned to young Anakin. "Child, I must be frank with you. I am impressed with your ability to touch the Force so fluidly without any formal training."

Anakin frowned. "Sir, I have heard my father talk about the Force before when he talks about Jedi, but I don't know what you mean about _me_ touching it…"

Palpatine cocked his head to the left and frowned. For a Demetrian, this motion would translate to a "what?" query or sometimes a query asking where if combined with the proper hand gestures or posture changes. Therefore, Anakin found himself reminded of Palpatine's foreigner status when the senator's question came. "Have you asked your father about the Force before or have you just listened to him speak of it?"

Anakin looked away to hide his expression of annoyance. "I've asked before. Once. Father asked me where I'd heard that term before then told me to forget that I'd ever heard it. He said that the Force is a terrible curse and that I'd be better off ignoring its call."

Palpatine smiled at the boy. _Oh, this is going to almost be too easy. I can feel that he is starving for the information his family denies him—and, of course, the fact that they _have_ denied him any knowledge of the Force means that I can shape his knowledge as I please! Of course, it will be annoying to have to train the child from the very beginning…but if that is the price I must pay for such a powerful young apprentice, then so be it. _

And so Palpatine began. "You would call your ability to read the feelings of others a _curse_?"

Anakin frowned and cocked his head to the left, signifying confusion…then remembered that Palpatine was an outsider and therefore wouldn't know the significance of the Demetrian query. "Of course not! …But my father and uncle seem to think that it is. They don't even let me talk about it." He then paused. "How do you know about it even?"

Palpatine knelt down before the boy. "It is the Force that gives you your ability to read others. I, too, am able to utilize the Force, although the fact that I can is a secret."

Anakin's curiosity was now peaked. He completely forgot about any idea of caution in his desire to know more. "Why is it a secret, Sir?"

"Before I answer that question, young Anakin, first let me tell you about the Force. The Force is an energy field that penetrates and binds all things. Some people are born with the ability to touch this energy field and manipulate it; others are born blind to its presence. You and I belong to the former group, as does the rest of your family and the Jedi. Your family chooses not to touch it because a long time ago a member of your family used the Force to do some terrible things, if I understand correctly what I've heard since arriving here."

"And the Jedi?" Anakin asked, impatient to get the answer to his first question yet at the same time wanting to know more about the Force.

"Well, the topic of the Jedi is quite interesting. You see, the Jedi tend to see everything as absolutes: absolute right and absolute wrong, absolute good and absolute evil. The problem with this is that the Jedi see themselves as the absolute good, and therefore anyone who does not share their views on the Force are seen as evil."

"What views do the Jedi have?"

And so Palpatine began to recite the Jedi Code to young Anakin. "This, young one, is the Code that the Jedi live their lives by. _'There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no death, there is the Force.'_"

Anakin scoffed. "But that makes no sense! How can the Jedi tell a person that they're not allowed to feel sadness or happiness or anything else? How can a Jedi say there's nothing but knowledge when no one can know everything? How can the Jedi say that you can't have something that you love? And that whole 'no death' spiel?" Anakin's lip quivered slightly but he managed to continue nonetheless. "If there's no death, then my mom should be standing next to my dad and we'd still be back home instead of living at this castle with my uncle!"

Palpatine shrugged. "Well, the Jedi deny emotions by taking babies away from their families before they are old enough to fully develop emotions. They then teach their younglings that emotions are dangerous things. They also dissuade the younglings from developing passions by prohibiting possessions and attachments; it is forbidden for Jedi to love. The Jedi possess one of the most complete Archives in the Republic; that is how they say there is only knowledge. And they claim that all people join the Force upon death."

Anakin's face clouded over. "The Jedi take babies away?"

"Of course. It is highly uncommon for any child over the age of three to be accepted into the Jedi Temple. By that age, the children have already formed attachments to their families and have learned emotions and the concept of possession."

Anakin interrupted the Senator. "You mean, Jedi kids aren't allowed to know their families!?"

"That is correct, youngling."

Anakin scowled. "That is just…wrong. And the Jedi say that they're the ones that are right about how the Force works?"

Palpatine smiled internally. "Yes, they do. Personally, I believe in a code quite different than that of the Jedi. Which is why no one can ever learn that I use the Force. If the Jedi found out that I use the Force without subscribing to their beliefs, they would lock me up and throw away the key!"

Anakin took a moment to absorb that statement. "And what do you believe, Sir?"

"I believe in this: _'Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.'_"

Anakin frowned. "I don't understand…"

Palpatine smiled and stood slowly, stretching his cramped muscles. He asked, "Is there a bench is the gardens where we could sit without being observed and continue our conversation?" And so Anakin led the Senator to a bench and the two of them sat down. Palpatine then proceeded to decipher the Code of the Sith for his prospective apprentice. "Firstly and foremost, I am quite against the idea that being Force-sensitive means that a person can live a full life without emotions, or that Force-sensitivity means that a person's life will be free of strife and worries. While the Jedi reach for the Force only when calm and free from emotion, I reach for the Force _with_ my emotions, using emotion to strengthen my grasp on the Force. Because I do not waste my time trying to cleanse myself of emotion first, I can grab hold of the Force whenever I need to. I believe that this fact makes me more powerful than any Jedi, and thus if I were confronted by a Jedi, I could defeat him. In fact, my ultimate dream is a society without the poison of the Jedi tainting the Force with their terrible practices of stealing babies and raising children who are taught to push aside their emotions."

Anakin had sat quietly throughout this explanation. Once Palpatine finished, Anakin continued to sit quietly for a few moments. He then asked, "And how would you make a society like that?"

Palpatine sighed. "I'm not yet certain, but I hope to eventually become the leader of the Republic, the Supreme Chancellor. And when I become Supreme Chancellor, I will find a way to make my dream a reality."

Anakin looked away. Palpatine could feel that the child's mind was whirring from all the information he had learned in such a short time. Eventually, Anakin turned to the Senator. "Sir, even if I could make myself believe the Jedi Code, I'm too old for them to train anyways. But I really would like to learn more about the Force. Um…if it isn't too much to ask…"

Palpatine smiled at the young boy. _Yes, he will be a fine apprentice indeed. _"I would be honored to have such a gifted child as my apprentice. But you understand that, if I train you, you can never tell your family that you're being trained, right? If you told them, they'd probably try to turn me in to the Jedi, and they'd certainly at the very least forbid you to see me anymore."

Anakin met Palpatine's eyes. "I understand, Sir. My father and uncle don't like me talking about the Force anyways, and my brother and sister haven't figured out how to touch it and so they think I'm crazy."

Palpatine laid a hand on young Anakin's shoulder. "Well, then, would you like to have your first lesson tonight?"

Anakin leaped up and nodded vigorously. "Yes!"

* * *

Next Chapter: Anakin begins his Sith training under Palpatine's tutelage.

Yay! Now we're getting into the familiar faces a bit! Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long to write as this one did…

Yes, for right this moment, Anakin is following Palpatine willingly. But, of course, as of this moment the only Jedi the kid has met is Mace Windu and he's not exactly the best Jedi in the galaxy to prove Palps wrong in his assessment of the Jedi Order as emotionless baby-stealers…

Oh, yes, and I got the Jedi Code and the Code of the Sith from Wookieepedia.


	4. Master and Apprentice

**The Dreaded Yet Expected Author's Note:**

Once again, I must thank my reviewers for their inspiration to both start writing down this story and to keep updating it as promptly as I can.

This chapter starts a small period of time in the story which I have actually never even tried to imagine in my mental storyline; my mental picture of this story has this naughty tendency to leap straight from Ani meeting Palps to TPM era. I just hope that the chapter has come out as up-to-par with the story thus far. You may also notice that I'm lengthening the chapters now; the first couple chapters were just preliminaries – now we're into the meat of the story. Speaking of…

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars; that distinction belongs to the Great Flanneled One. I don't own any characters or locations recognizable from canon (although I might lay claim to the new people I shall be introducing as Anakin's family and the new planet I have created to be his home planet). Besides which, I'm broke, so suing me would only get you a car with too many problems and a lame DVD collection LOL.

* * *

The Sith Lord Darth Sidious looked up at the smiling, energetic boy who was so willing to blindly throw himself into the role of Sith apprentice, and forced back an urge to begin cackling with glee. The boy's Force presence was so bright that Sidious couldn't help but be in awe of the raw, untapped power that the boy could learn to control. Of course, there was great risk in undertaking the training of one so powerful—especially training in the traditions of the Sith, which would make the boy his direct opponent come the end of his training. Yet Sidious was willing to take the risk, if nothing else because he knew that the inevitable final battle between him and his young apprentice would be nothing short of spectacular.

Sidious stood and smiled down at young Anakin Skywalker, remembering that it was a mere seven-year-old boy he was dealing with and deciding that, as the child was still going to be living here with his family on Demetria during his training—after all, to remove the child would make him no better than the Jedi in the boy's eyes—that he might as well mask his true intentions until the boy was older and better indoctrinated in the ways of the Sith. Yet before the boy could start learning the ways of the Sith, Sidious would first need to give the child some rudimentary training in the ways of the Force. Sidious sighed and reviewed what little he knew of the boy who was to be the successor of his current apprentice, Darth Maul. The child's current knowledge of the Force was obviously restricted to the ability to touch the minds of others. Sidious found himself wondering if the boy even knew that the Force was capable of more than that.

"Well, young one, as you have already discovered on your own, the Force allows those sensitive to it to feel the emotions of those surrounding them," Sidious began and Anakin nodded, returning to the bench and looking at his mentor attentively. "That is not the only ability that the Force grants its sensitives with, however."

Anakin once again cocked his head to the left; Sidious had a feeling that the child's seemingly unconscious body language was actually something very conscious and perhaps even held a deeper meaning. Sidious made a fast mental note to pay very close attention to how his new apprentice interacted with his family and peers in order to determine if the boy's body language did indeed hold meaning. Sidious then continued his lesson. "The Force gives its wielders abilities that many would consider…unnatural. Using the Force, a person can lift something many times their own size and mass without physically touching the object. A person in tune with the Force can amplify their own physical abilities as well, granting themselves extraordinary agility, speed, and stamina. The Force can be used to sense the presences of hidden persons or objects and determine their intent. The Force can even be used to determine future events, be it just a bad feeling from a rotten piece of flooring that may cave under your weight or a complete vision of something to come."

Anakin gaped at the possibilities. _Lifting things with my mind? Running without getting tired? Being able to find members of my family without having to search the entire castle? Knowing about something dangerous before I actually end up getting myself hurt? _

The senator smiled down at Anakin with a gentle smile that reminded Anakin of his uncle. He then said, "You have already proven your aptitude with touching the minds of others. I believe, therefore, that this labyrinth may be a perfect tool for exercising your ability to sense another's presence through the Force. I am going to go hide somewhere in the maze. While I do so, my young apprentice, you will close your eyes. When I am hidden, you will open your eyes and reach out with the Force in order to locate me. Before we start this exercise, however, I first want you to reach out to me with the Force. I want you to focus on my Force signature."

Anakin frowned and once again cocked his head to the left, remembering just afterwards that the senator could not possibly understand the Demetrian expression of confusion. Suddenly, Anakin made a realization: the senator was no longer just a senator to him; he was going to be his teacher! _I know how my tutor for school things likes to be called…but what does someone call a Force-teacher? I guess I'll just play it safe and wait and see if he corrects me… _"Force signature, Sir?"

The senator replied, "As each individual has his or her own unique set of fingerprints, each individual also has his or her own unique signature in the Force. The relative strength of this Force signature is dependent upon the individual's sensitivity to the Force, although even Force-blind individuals have Force signatures."

"How can someone who's Force-blind have a Force signature?"

"Well, Anakin, every individual alive has microscopic creatures living within them known as midi-chlorians. It is the midi-chlorians that give a Force-sensitive his or her ability to touch the Force. Force-sensitive individuals possess more midi-chlorians than Force-blind individuals, but Force-blind individuals also do have midi-chlorians in their bodies—just not enough for them to consciously touch and control the Force."

Anakin took a few quiet moments to digest what the senator had just told him. _I have tiny little midi-what's-it creatures living in me? Not just me, but everyone? Ooo…Nalini hates little bugs and stuff…I wonder what it would hurt for me to tell her about that just to see the look on her face? _Anakin debated this idea for a moment…then reconsidered. _And who exactly would I tell Father told me about these midi-bugs? I _know_ how he'd react if I told him I was looking up Force-stuff…he'd ban me to my room 'til I'm eighteen! How many times has he told me to just leave the whole Force-thing alone? But I don't want to leave it alone. It sounds so cool! Floating stuff around…winning every race I have with Nalini and Mahaja…always being able to find them when we play hide-and-seek…not having to constantly ask the servants where members of my family are hiding… Okay, I guess I can't tell Nalini…but I bet that if I could, the look her face would be priceless! _

Anakin sighed and forced himself back on-task. "So what you want me to do is just focus on you? Look at you with the Force like I'm looking at you right now and memorize what I see?"

"That would be correct, my young apprentice. I have much to teach you in these next few days, for after that, I must be returning to the Capital. During the meetings to be held in these few days, I will argue to both my companions and your rulers that it would be in the best interests of all for the Republic to monitor Demetria's progress in terms of the drought and in its conversion to Republic currency, time, and other standards. As I am senator for one of the closest systems to yours, I can only hope they will assign me to the task. Yet, in interests of not raising suspicion on either of us, I will rarely be able to seek you out or speak to you about where or when we should meet for training. Therefore, being able to find me through the Force will be the first of what are to be some very important lessons for you this week."

"I understand, Sir," Anakin replied quietly before beginning to focus. He closed his eyes and reached out to touch the senator's mind the same way as he had earlier in the day…but this time, instead of trying to determine the senator's feelings, he instead focused on what made Palpatine…well, Palpatine. Anakin took a good five minutes committing to memory every single facet of the senator's, well, _presence_. Once he was done, the child opened his eyes.

"Very good," the senator half-purred. "I must admit, young one, I am duly impressed. Your grasp of the Force is remarkable considering that, before tonight, you didn't even know it was the Force you were touching."

Anakin blushed slightly at the compliment. "Thank you, senator."

Darth Sidious smiled at the boy. "Now I am going to go disappear in the labyrinth. When I am ready, you will know. Don't ask _how_ you will know—just trust me that you will. Once I indicate my readiness, your task is to locate me through the Force and find me. Do you understand?"

Anakin smiled. "Yes. We're going to play a game of hide-and-seek. When you're hidden, you're somehow going to let me know without giving me any hints about where you are. Then I have to use the Force to find you."

Sidious nodded. "Exactly. Now, close your eyes."

And so Anakin closed his eyes. He sat down on the bench and waited, for what he didn't know. After about three minutes of patient waiting, Anakin felt a sudden strange sensation in his mind. The boy almost jumped out of his skin when he realized the sensation came from an outside source. Right as the boy was about to run in terror, he realized that this must be the indicator that the senator referred to. Anakin took a deep breath and chided himself on his jumpiness. He then allowed himself to reach out to the Force and began to search the general area for the senator's distinct presence…

It took the youth all of a minute to get a lock on the senator's position. Anakin stood slowly, afraid that movement would cause him to lose the senator's signature. Once Anakin was standing, he began to slowly move in the direction where he sensed the senator…and found himself with a face full of branches! _Oh, this oughta be interesting… _the young Skywalker thought, realizing that he had two choices: keep his eyes closed and fight his way through his uncle's brambles and thorny bushes, or open his eyes so he could find his way through the labyrinth without being injured…but risk losing the senator's signature through the distraction. Finally, realizing that he would have no explanation for his wounds if he tried to navigate the labyrinth with his eyes closed, Anakin cemented his focus on the senator's position and opened his eyes.

It took Anakin six minutes and 32 seconds to find the senator. The boy found himself constantly forced to stop and refocus himself, immersing himself in the Force to relocate the senator. Once or twice Anakin even thought that the senator had moved when his focus had been shaken. When Anakin finally found his mentor, the senator simply smiled. "Very good, youngling. You did well for your first time. Now you know how to locate someone through the Force. I will want you to be practicing this until I return. Before we head back to the house to retire, however, I have one more thing I must show you tonight, just in case we are unable to pursue any more training before I must leave."

Anakin frowned and caught himself as he began to make the Demetrian signal for "what?" again. "What would that be, Sir?"

The senator laughed low. "Child, before I continue your instruction tonight, I sense a question in your mind about how exactly you should address me. You are my apprentice. In the tradition of my school of knowledge regarding the Force, an apprentice is sometimes also known as a Shadow Hand, a title which I may use for you later in your training. An apprentice learning the ways of the Force usually refers to his teacher as his Master. Of course, in public, this will be impossible seeing that it is imperative that no one else know of our relationship as student and teacher."

Anakin, relieved at finally having the answer to his unspoken question—and more than a little disturbed at the belated realization that, as a trained Force-sensitive, the senator had probably been reading his thoughts and emotions all day and now night—replied, "Thank you for telling me, Master."

Sidious felt an almost intoxicating rush at hearing the powerful child before him call him "Master." He could also sense the child's discomfort at the realization that his thoughts and feelings were no longer private. "I can sense your discomfort, my young apprentice. It is convenient, then, that your final lesson for tonight will be how to shield your mind, is it not?"

"Shield my mind?" Anakin asked, his sudden excitement forcing the Sith Master to smile slightly. The child's eagerness to learn was something Sidious realized he could use to his advantage as time went on, especially if the boy began having second thoughts.

"Yes, my young apprentice. Right at this moment, you are as easily read as an unencrypted datapad for anyone with the proper knowledge of the Force. It is possible, however, to make yourself far more difficult to read—to put up a wall, if you will, in your mind to keep others from accessing your private thoughts and feelings. Of course, this is a skill that you will need to practice in order to perfect, and sometimes strong feelings will still slip through. Are you ready?"

Anakin nodded quickly, eager to reclaim the mental privacy that he usually took for granted. "Yes, Master."

* * *

Anakin's alarm buzzed at 0800 and the child wiped the sleep from his eyes. He had barely had five hours of sleep; he had spent much of the previous night practicing his newfound skills in the Force before collapsing into bed. He knew that he was expected for breakfast with the representatives along with the rest of his family and he didn't dare be late—after all, he didn't want anyone thinking anything weird was going on. He quickly dressed and headed down to the dining hall.

Upon entering the dining hall, Anakin felt a strange sensation in his mind. He almost panicked…then he remembered his Master's parting words to him the night before: "No matter how much you practice your shielding tonight, the Jedi Master will undoubtedly be able to tear through any shields you will be able to erect. Therefore, when I sense your approach tomorrow, I will use my own skills to shield tonight's events from his view. It wouldn't do for our little secret to be discovered so quickly, now would it?" Anakin relaxed and concentrated on the mental intrusion he felt; detecting his Master's Force signature all over the foreign presence, Anakin allowed himself to relax and walk into the dining hall as though nothing were amiss.

Mahaja and Nalini greeted their brother, each of them meeting his eyes as he entered, smiling, and placing their left wrists on the table while raising their left hands. As Anakin was standing, he repeated their greeting by smiling and meeting the eyes of first his sister then his brother with his left hand by his side at chest height, about ten centimeters ahead of his shoulder. He then sat down next to his sister and across from his brother. The smile vanished from Mahaja's face; Mahaja now cocked his head slightly to the right and lifted his eyebrows, nodding towards Anakin as his head stopped falling sideways. Once Mahaja's head was up, Anakin replied to Mahaja's unspoken question of "How are you?" by touching his index and middle fingers of his right hand to his right thumb, indicating that he was okay. His sister and brother each responded the same to his inquiry.

Breakfast went quietly and then everyone returned to the throne room to work out the logistics of Demetria's entry into the Republic. As he had promised, Senator Palpatine introduced the idea of a representative visiting Demetria on a regular basis to assist its conversion to Republic standards as well as monitoring the drought. After much discussion, it was decided that such assistance would be beneficial—especially considering the lack of technology on Demetria permitting intersystem communications and the system's resulting reliance on its suppliers for news—and they chose the Naboo senator to be Demetria's contact with the Republic.

Feeling Anakin's happiness over their fledgling Master-Apprentice bond, Sidious sent the child a wave of amusement. Anakin quickly stifled his happiness and expressed a bit of guilt over the bond, undoubtedly because his sudden happiness showed doubt that his Master could accomplish the feat of being nominated as the Republic's ambassador to Demetria. Of course, all of the Republic representatives encouraged Rurik and Alaric to hold an election so that Demetria could choose a representative of its own, but they recognized that such an election could take a little while to plan, especially considering the planet's current state of emergency due to the drought and the fact that Demetria's leaders would far rather be focusing on how to distribute emergency rations than dealing with the logistics of a democratic election—something that hadn't occurred on Demetria since the Skywalker clan was given popular rule over the planet.

Over the next few days, Sidious and Anakin met every night at different areas of the grounds. Sidious kept the two of them shielded so that Master Windu would be none the wiser as to what was going on at night. Each night, the two of them worked to strengthen their bond, as well as tweaking Anakin's shielding abilities and a couple other basic skills that most Jedi younglings of Anakin's age would already be on their way to mastering—namely precognition and levitating small objects. The night before the representatives were to leave Demetria, Sidious informed his apprentice that he would return in three months' time and instructed the youth to practice the skills he had imparted. "Remember," Sidious instructed his apprentice while meeting his eyes with a serious gaze, "Jedi younglings of your age are far ahead of you, having been instructed in the ways of the Force ever since they were old enough to understand. You have some catching up to do, my young apprentice."

* * *

Next Chapter: The two years leading up to TPM.

Sorry for the wait, folks, this chapter was harder to write than I thought because I haven't read much of the EU and am completely unfamiliar with early training practices for Jedi, let alone Sith! The next chapter will likely just be snippets of Anakin's training and some family interaction, possibly even some light humor and a friend or two being introduced for the Skywalker children. In the chapter after the next (unless I change my mind after writing the next chapter and decide to go further into Ani's early training) we should be seeing a certain Jedi Master and his ginger-haired Padawan making an appearance on Demetria.

I finished the last half of his chapter between 11 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. tonight/this morning so please let me know if you find any errors or anything that just doesn't make sense…or even just have ideas for the next chapter's training.


	5. Banquets and Space

**The Dreaded Yet Expected Author's Note:**

Thank you to my reviewers, especially Alien Roxi for convincing me to write this down! Please feel free to review; I promise, I don't bite the hands of those who type reviews for me.

Apologies for the long wait for this; my intention was to do some short drabbles for Ani's training but I just couldn't do that! So it appears that Anakin's early training is going to be at least two chapters long and the beginning of TPM has been delayed a bit…but I am going to try to finish Anakin's training this weekend (as I have all day tomorrow to just sit and muse and my muse's hyperdrive is definitely back up and running now after a long maintenance stop.)

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars; that distinction belongs to the Great Flanneled One. I don't own any characters or locations recognizable from canon (although I might lay claim to the new people I shall be introducing as Anakin's family and the new planet I have created to be his home planet). Besides which, I'm broke, so suing me would only get you a car with too many problems and a lame DVD collection LOL.

* * *

_**Two Months Later; Castle District of Kimberley, Demetria**_

Anakin hated big banquets. They were always such formal affairs with a bunch of adults and nothing to do except sit quietly and try to focus on whoever was talking at the moment. At first, when Anakin heard that his Master was returning to Demetria, he was ecstatic and had to fight to hide his happiness. Then his uncle announced that they would be holding a banquet in honor of the Naboo senator…and Anakin no longer felt any need to hide his feelings on the matter.

Anakin had done as his Master had requested. He had spent the past two months diligently practicing his new abilities when no one was looking. At night in the gardens he would use the Force to lift and stack rocks on each other. He had memorized his family members' Force signatures and made a point to seek them out with the Force rather than ask around to find out where anyone was. He nearly always was working on his mental shields, working out how to control the strength of the shields and their scope—whether they blocked his entire mind from view or just his deepest thoughts. Of course, the less he tried to block, the stronger his shields were, but he had no intentions of stopping until he had perfected shielding. As for precognition…well, Anakin wasn't exactly sure _how_ to practice this skill without intentionally trying to get himself hurt, so instead he just made sure to keep himself open to the Force as best as he could so that he wouldn't miss any bad feelings.

As Anakin stood with his brother and sister once again on the landing platform, Anakin opened himself to the Force as widely as he could, seeking his Master's Force signature on board the vessel that was in the process of setting down. Suddenly, Anakin felt his Master's presence through their Force bond and threw up his shields; he was determined to show his Master how much he had learned during their separation. Anakin was more than a little surprised and a bit shamed when he felt his shields crumble with apparently very little effort on his Master's part…but he was reassured a bit when his Master sent a wave of praise and acknowledgment of Anakin's improvement over their bond.

Alaric made the gesture for the children to step forward, which they did. The ramp extended and Anakin once again found himself masking his excitement…and fighting the urge to run forward and tell his Master about the past two months. He felt a quiet pulse over his bond with his Master: _patience_, it seemed to say. And so Anakin stood quietly, not fidgeting, waiting as patiently as a seven-year-old could manage.

Senator Palpatine had not come alone; he introduced his companions as his aide, Sate Pestage, and his bodyguards, Captain Hieya and Captain Ivewo. The Skywalkers greeted the entourage warmly and Anakin, realizing his chance, respectfully asked his father if he might have the right to show Palpatine and his people where they would be staying, thus freeing his father and uncle to finalize preparations for dinner. Alaric proclaimed this to be an excellent idea, smiling and blinking as he did so to express his gratitude.

Anakin waited until his father, uncle, and siblings had all departed—the adults for the banquet hall and his siblings for their respective quarters until the time arrived for dinner—then began to lead the Naboo entourage through the castle towards the guest wing. As they walked, Anakin answered any questions to the best of his ability and pointed out interesting objects and facts, much as he had two months before while giving his Master the tour of the grounds. Upon arrival at the guest wing, Anakin pointed out the room choices and each of the Naboo chose the one they desired, thanking the young boy for his family's hospitality before entering their quarters to clean up for the banquet.

Realizing that his Master would be unable to speak with him here anyways, Anakin turned to depart. As he did, he felt his Master send him feelings of pride over their bond. The child was almost skipping as he headed to his quarters to finish preparing for the banquet himself.

* * *

_Is this thing never going to end!?_ Anakin thought as he forced himself not to fidget at the table. His father and uncle were discussing the state of the Republic and Demetria's progress in adapting to the changes required by the Republic in return for being allowed membership and being given assistance: convincing planetary merchants to accept Republic Dataries as a form of payment, introducing the Galactic Standard Calendar to the populace (although it was not required for planets to forsake their local timekeeping practices, it was advantageous—especially in interplanetary trade—for people to be able to keep records in Galactic Standard measurements), and the beginnings of the undertaking of the first official census of population that Demetria had undergone since the death of King Rurik's great-great-grandfather. The Republic had finally decided that the Demetrian Geld currency should have three-quarters the value of the Galactic Credit Standard until the end of the Demetrian drought. When discussion moved to the change in timekeeping…well, the Naboo senator commented that even some planets that had been Republic members for millennia were currently struggling to adapt everything to the changes brought around this year by the Great ReSynchronization. As for the census…Rurik just laughed helplessly. "We have sent out orders to all jurisdictions to survey their populations. Now we just have to wait for responses."

Anakin almost visibly flinched when he suddenly felt his Master touch his mind through their bond. In his distraction and boredom, he had let his mental shields falter ever so slightly. Weak as they were, they were at least some semblance of privacy, and letting them falter was unacceptable. Anakin felt a whisper in his Master's presence as the older man withdrew: _Patience, young one,_ it seemed to say. _You must learn patience._

Finally, the topic changed to the children. Mahaja had begged Alaric to be allowed to attend a public school starting the next school year, claiming that he felt like a prisoner being forced to stay within the castle grounds all the time and that he wanted some friends his own age. The senator commented that it was an excellent idea for the heir apparent to spend some time among the general populace and wished Mahaja the best of luck with his endeavor. Alaric commented that he was beginning to consider the same idea for the twins—after all, there were no other girls around the castle for Nalini to befriend, and Anakin and Nalini, he had noticed, were beginning to have divergent interests that made it difficult for them to keep each other company as effectively as they did when they were younger.

Darth Sidious saw his chance…and took a mere moment to send a pulse of happy excitement (feigned, of course), through his bond with his apprentice before leaping in to grasp the opportunity presented. "Well, Your Highness, if I may offer a suggestion…"

Alaric stifled a laugh. "Dear senator, no need to be so formal! I never much cared for titles, else I'd never have run off with my darling Shmi, gods rest her soul. Please, just call me Alaric."

Sidious smiled a warm smile capable of winning over even the most ardent of politician-haters. "In that case, I must ask that you call me Cos."

Alaric nodded. "As you wish, Cos. What is your suggestion?"

Sidious shrugged. "It is a solution to your dilemma. I do agree with you that young Nalini must feel rather outnumbered by the men in her life and that, at her age, it could be quite beneficial for her to make herself some friends of her own gender. Thus, rather than continuing to debate the idea, why don't you go ahead and send her to public school when Mahaja goes, rather than holding her back? You could always pull her out later if she dislikes it." After Alaric's thoughtful nod, Sidious added, "I cannot help but notice, however, the way that young Anakin stares hungrily at my ship, and I can no longer ignore his admitted fascination with the stars during my previous visit. It would be a great honor to me if you would allow me to…borrow your son for a few months or so."

Alaric turned to regard Anakin, whose eyes had lit up in excitement at hearing the senator's proposal. The Naboo finished, "Of course, in interest of not putting him at a disadvantage to his peers, I would be more than happy to tutor him in any curriculum you would like…not that the mere act of traveling and being introduced to so many other peoples and cultures will not be educational on its own."

Alaric sighed as Anakin practically begged him—through body language and Demetrian signs, of course; the child was not about to actually get on his knees and beg, especially not in front of his Master—to let him go. Finally, Alaric gave in. "Very well. Anakin, if you so desire, you may accompany the senator when he leaves tomorrow." At Anakin's sudden cry of happiness, Alaric laughed. "Well, go and get packing already, kiddo!" At that, Anakin dashed out of the room, whooping in anticipation.

* * *

Later that night, Mahaja and Nalini walked into Anakin's room to find their brother rapidly packing anything he thought he might need during his trip. _I wonder if my Master's ship has clothes-cleaning machines or not…best pack enough for a week without, just in case. Hmm…soap…shampoo…_ Anakin cried out in alarm and spun as he felt someone suddenly slap him on the back. "Mahaja! Nalini!"

Mahaja laughed. "Wow,_we_ managed to sneak up on _you_!? You must really be distracted; we haven't managed to get the drop on you for a while!"

Anakin muttered under his breath about annoying big brothers but was unable to keep a smile from forming as he did. "Yeah, yeah, alright, you caught me." He lifted his head to meet his older brother's eyes. "You've never snuck up behind me without a reason."

Mahaja sighed. "Just…wanted to say bye now, before we have to be all formal on the landing pad tomorrow. From what we heard of Father and the senator's conversation before we were excused, you might be gone for a while."

Nalini now took the chance to break in. "Just out of curiosity, what made you change your mind about the senator? Last time he visited, you had him pegged as dangerous the very first day we met him…then, after he left, you acted like it was Father or Uncle Rurik who had been on that ship. And now, when asked if you want to leave all of us for who knows how long in order to travel with him, you act like someone just handed you a zillion Geld and told you to spend it on anything you want!"

Anakin slammed his shields up tightly as he struggled to hide his surprise. _Wow, I didn't realize they'd noticed _that_ big of a change in how I feel about my Master…_ "Well, I did think it was really weird and kind of scary when he insisted on me being his tour guide last time…but we had a long talk in the garden and he told me all about his planet and the stars and Coruscant and his life and all and I realized he's actually a pretty nice guy and I'd like to see some of the things he told me about…" Anakin broke off, realizing that he was rambling. After taking a moment, he finished, "Besides, our family name is Skywalker, isn't it? How can I turn down this chance?"

Nalini smiled and hugged her twin tightly. "Be careful out there, dear brother. We need you."

After Nalini released Anakin, Mahaja pulled his little brother close. "She's right, you know. We do need you. So don't forget about us while you're out among the stars. And yes, for stars' sake, be careful!"

Anakin laughed. "I will. It's not like I'm going to be in any danger or anything…let's face it, the worst danger I'll probably face the entire time is finally being forced to understand politics!"

Mahaja and Nalini shuddered together. Nalini cried, "No! Not you too! I need at least one member of our family to not be taken from me by the evil demon called politics! It's bad enough that Father and Uncle are already grooming Mahaja to take over when he's older!"

All three children laughed. Anakin smiled. "Don't worry. I promise, I'll be careful, and I'll do my best to not let that awful demon catch me."

* * *

The next morning, Anakin walked to the ship at his Master's right side. Captain Hieya carried his two bags behind him. For a moment, Anakin felt a strange sense of foreboding…but he squashed it down. He was going to be with his Master. What was the worst that could happen?

He fought the urge to turn and run back to hug his family. He'd already spent two hours saying goodbyes and having his father and uncle double- and triple-check to make sure he had everything he might need for his trip. He could sense his Master's impatience to get on his way; his Master was an important man, after all, the boy reasoned, and he undoubtedly had places he needed to be getting to. The last thing Anakin wanted was to be a burden, so he determined to work extra hard during the trip and make his Master proud.

After everyone was on the ship and the boarding ramp retracted, Anakin turned to smile at his Master. The senator asked, "Would you like to run up to the cockpit and watch Captain Ivewo?"

Anakin nodded yes vigorously and so Sidious pointed the way to the cockpit. As Anakin ran for the cockpit, Sidious allowed himself to smile…in a far different way than young Anakin had. He now had the boy all to himself for the next several months, perhaps even a year, and he was determined that, by the end of young Anakin's time with him, the boy would be ready for his first test as a Sith apprentice. _I wonder if I might convince Anakin to tell me a bit more about this incident with his mother…_

* * *

Anakin stared at the control panel before him, pointing at any and all instruments within his view, asking what each did. Captain Ivewo's nerves were almost at their breaking point when they broke through the atmosphere…and then the boy fell thankfully silent. For a moment. Then Ivewo heard a quiet, "Wow, look at all the stars…"

Anakin was enthralled. He had seen the stars before, certainly, but always through atmosphere. He had never before experienced stars in the clarity of vacuum. And they were _beautiful_. He stared in silent awe. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked back to see the face of his Master. "Anakin, would you care to join me for the morning meal?"

A rumbling in Anakin's stomach reminded him that they had left earlier than Anakin would typically even be awake and the boy gave his Master an apologetic grin. Palpatine chuckled. "I take that as a yes. Come."

Anakin followed his Master back to the dining area of the Nubian craft. Fruits, cereals, and hot dishes covered the table, along with pitchers of several varieties of juice. Anakin and his Master seated themselves at the table and Anakin commented, surprised, "Hey, that's my favorite cereal! How did you know?"

Sidious smiled. "I read your mind, of course."

Anakin's jaw dropped and he took a furtive glance at Captain Hieya. Sidious now gave his apprentice a guilty grin and said, "They know, Anakin. Captains Hieya and Ivewo are unswervingly loyal to me, having proven themselves in many trials. We may speak freely here, my young apprentice."

Anakin restrained himself from leaping from his chair and crying out his excitement to the world. Instead, he replied to this bombshell with a far more subdued, "Does that mean you are going to continue my training here?"

Sidious nodded. "Of course. There are many things that I must teach you that require far more isolation than we could ever achieve on Demetria, and those things I will instruct you on here."

Anakin's curiosity was noticeably peaked. "If I may ask, Master, what would those things be?"

Sidious shrugged. "Oh, perhaps, if you are interested at all, I thought that we might, oh, I don't know…let you practice a bit with, let's say…a lightsaber?"

Now Anakin couldn't restrain himself. He leaped from his chair, his eyes blazing with anticipation. "A LIGHTSABER!?!? I'm going to get to use a_lightsaber_!?!?"

Sidious chuckled. "Of course, Anakin. Our order is one of warriors, and what is a warrior without a weapon? And what better weapon for a Force-sensitive warrior than a lightsaber?"

Captain Hieya had long since left the room, increasing Anakin's comfort with speaking of Force topics. Anakin frowned at this comment by his Master. "Master, I thought lightsabers were Jedi weapons…"

Sidious met his apprentice's eyes. "Jedi wield lightsabers, yes, but the use of a lightsaber is not exclusive to Jedi. In fact, there are even a few bounty hunters out there with no Force sensitivity at all, wielding lightsabers they stole from Jedi they hunted."

Anakin queried, "Then, if Jedi use lightsabers, and members of the Order that we belong to use lightsabers, then how can we tell if a lightsaber-wielder we see on the streets is one of us…or one of them?"

Sidious smiled. "Because, my young apprentice, there are only three members of our Order in the entire galaxy. It is, therefore, safe to assume that besides myself and my other Shadow Hand—who is fully unaware of your existence, by the way, and exists only to hold your position until you are old enough and well-trained enough to take it—any other lightsaber-wielder you see is either a Jedi or someone who stole a Jedi's weapon." Sidious winked, "Of course, it is easy to tell which is which just by reading their Force signatures."

Anakin nodded. Sidious pushed himself away from the table and stood, motioning towards the hatch to the Nubian's cargo area. "After you, my young apprentice."

* * *

NEXT CHAPTER: (Hopefully) the completion of Anakin's early training.

To answer a few questions which I sense are inevitable (although I might get a few more reviews if I did not do this):

1) Yes, Palpatine is going to return Anakin to Demetria within the year. Which means that, although he may take a bit more license with Anakin during this time than he would while the boy was actually on Demetria, he still cannot risk turning his young apprentice against him to the point that he might tattle…and he also can't make the boy change too drastically, else his guardians may refuse to allow him to see the boy further…and then he'd have to kill Anakin's family to keep his apprentice, which would make things far more difficult than necessary.

2) Sidious has not yet revealed the name of the Order which he serves to Anakin. I have decided, after much thought, that chances are that Ani's father and uncle, in order to keep the kids' curiosity from being peaked, would likely not have gone into detail about the Force when telling the children of their dark ancestor, and I'm going to make it so that Anakin has never even heard of the Sith before…all he is going to know, when Palpatine tells Anakin that he is now officially a Lord of the Sith (after his first trial is passed), is that the Sith are not like the Jedi.

3) No, Anakin is never going to meet Maul. He will be told of Maul…but it is important for Sidious to keep up the façade of following the Rule of Two and therefore he will not be introducing his apprentices to each other. Besides, Anakin is nowhere near ready to duel with someone of Maul's abilities; Maul is a weapon, plain and simple, and is trained to destroy the weak, not teach them to be stronger—and the only reason I can see for Sidious to bring his two apprentices together would be for them to duel for the right to be Sidious's apprentice, not to practice their skills (or lack thereof.)


	6. Training and Tatooine

**The Dreaded Yet Expected Author's Note:**

Thank you to both my reviewers and the lurkers who are reading my story in silence; I'm glad to see that so many are enjoying the story even if many of you have chosen to do so quietly.

Let's skip the long A/N this time so my muse is not interrupted and I can get this chapter up and done for y'all ('cause I figure some of you are just as excited to get to TPM as I am!)

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars; that distinction belongs to the Great Flanneled One. I don't own any characters or locations recognizable from canon (although I might lay claim to the new people I shall be introducing as Anakin's family and the new planet I have created to be his home planet). Besides which, I'm broke, so suing me would only get you a car with too many problems and a lame DVD collection LOL.

* * *

"_Tell me what you regard as your greatest strength, so I will know how best to undermine you; tell me of your greatest fear, so I will know which I must force you to face; tell me what you cherish most, so I will know what to take from you; and tell me what you crave, so that I might deny you…" – Darth Sidious_

_(Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader__ by James Luceno; page 179)_

Anakin watched the small remote buzzing about in front of him, trying to ignore the annoying pinpricks of pain he felt over his body from his failure to block the low-powered sting bursts the remote had been firing at him. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his left hand, holding his Master's crimson lightsaber in front of him. _What am I doing wrong?_ he asked himself in frustration.

Anakin snuck a peek over at his Master, who was sitting in silence, eyes closed and legs crossed, his face so calm that it seemed almost as if the man were sleeping…but Anakin, able to feel the way the Force was interacting with his Master, knew that the older man's seeming repose was a lie. The Force was like a dark storm around his Master, yet Anakin could see how his Master was controlling and manipulating the storm with seemingly no effort…

Another sting, this time in his backside, forced Anakin's attention back to the remote._ Oh, that's it, you're going down, you annoying thing!_ Anakin shifted his grip on his Master's lightsaber and leaped straight at the remote. The remote flitted away from the young boy's attack easily and even let out a mechanical raspberry in the child's direction.

Anakin started when he heard his Master's chuckle. "My young apprentice, do not forget: our Order does not forbid emotions—but you must be mindful nonetheless. What good are emotions if they control you instead of you controlling them?" Anakin nodded slowly as the lesson sank in. His Master continued, "Your anger can be a useful tool, same as the lightsaber in your hand. Use it. Mould it into hate, an even more potent emotion. That's right, _hate_ the remote that is causing you pain. Mould your anger and hatred into a weapon. Let your powerful emotions increase your own power…but never at the expense of control!"

Anakin closed his eyes and focused on his anger. Suddenly, a strange sensation filled him. He could actually sense the remote, just as if he were sensing the rocks in the garden or the minds of others around him…and not only could he sense the remote…he could also sense this strange glimmer…as if something was going to be _right there_ in just…

Anakin quickly moved the lightsaber in his hands just in time to intercept the sting blast the remote fired, and then four more that had followed the first in rapid succession. Anakin's eyes flew open in amazement. "I did it!"

Anakin turned and found his Master now sitting with his eyes open, smiling. "Yes, you did._ That_, my young apprentice, is Force precognition." His Master waved his hand, almost dismissively. "Keep working at that. Once you have proven yourself adept at this skill, we may very well make a stop to acquire materials that you can make a lightsaber of your own."

Anakin stared at the red beam in his hand. "Wizard…" The child then closed his eyes once more and turned to face the remote. _I will make you proud of me, Master. I will become so good at this that I'll be able to face two…or three…or even more of these and they won't be able to hit me! Just you wait!_

* * *

Anakin and his Master sat on the floor across from each other, legs crossed, eyes closed, hands up and palms forward, communing with each other in the Force. Anakin felt his Master once again launch an attack at him, attempting to break through his shields. Anakin distantly felt the sweat running down his face but paid them no heed; he couldn't afford to let his concentration falter. His Master had given him one simple instruction: _Keep me out of your mind…if you can_. And Anakin had no intention of letting his Master through his shields.

A week had passed since the trip had begun. Anakin would have been content to just stay with the remote working on his precognitive skills, but he did recognize his Master's reasoning that he couldn't just spend the entire trip playing with the lightsaber—he had other skills that were dreadfully lacking due to the fact that some skills are simply best developed with a partner as a training aide.

Anakin deflected his Master's mental assault and fought back an urge to send out an assault of his own. Anakin had long since lost track of how much time they had been sitting here unmoving but he was willing to wager they'd been at this for hours. Finally, after seven more deflected attacks, Anakin snapped and sent out an attack of his own. He suddenly heard his Master's voice in his head: _Nice try, young one…but before one expends his energy in attack, he should first always search for a weakness to exploit—it is pointless to send a barrage of blasterfire at the heavily shielded fore of a ship when the hull's shields are weak, is it not?_

Anakin opened his eyes to find his Master smiling at him wryly. The boy blushed slightly. "Yes, Master."

* * *

Captain Ivewo stood on the sidelines, watching in fascination as young Anakin tried to retrieve the ball floating in the middle of the room with the Force…but every time the child would get the ball to move, it was sudden ricochet back to its previous location. Ivewo, not being Force-sensitive, could not see it, but Anakin's Master had the ball rooted to place. And it was Anakin's job to get the ball loose of his Master's grasp and bring it to himself.

Anakin had been at it for three hours now, yanking the ball in every which direction he could think of. But now, Anakin had an idea. On the surface, he was still yanking it about, seemingly trying his hardest to wrest the ball from his Master's grasp…but underneath, he was focusing on the shelf containing several other balls, behind his Master. Anakin concentrated as hard as he could. His Master's cry of surprise when suddenly every single ball on the shelf collided with his head…well, Anakin almost collapsed in hysterics. Instead, the boy switched his focus fully back to the ball and yanked it as hard as he could. The ball easily broke free due to his Master's distraction and floated to Anakin's hand.

Only once Anakin was grasping the ball firmly did he allow himself to break down in laughter. Captain Ivewo called out that dinner was almost ready and Anakin, once regaining his composure, dashed out behind Ivewo, who was slowly becoming a good friend for Anakin, helping him work through any feelings of homesickness and giving him someone to chat with about the ship and adventures.

Sidious stared at the boy in silent stupor as he dashed out of the room towards the promise of food. _Impressive. Quite impressive indeed._

* * *

Sidious and Anakin stood side by side as their Nubian vessel descended into the atmosphere of the desert world of Tatooine. Although Sidious had been granted a year-long sabbatical from the Senate just before his trip to Demetria, the ship had been contacted by Senator Semaj Aditya of the Arkanis Sector two days ago, asking Senator Palpatine to check in on a situation on Tatooine if he was in the area. Sidious had agreed to do so.

Master and apprentice walked together into the town of Mos Espa. Senator Aditya had informed them that they were to request an audience with Jabba Desilijic Tiure to discuss the effects of a recent slew of sandstorms on local farmers, who had requested aid from the Republic. They were then to inform Jabba that no Republic aid could be sent until Tatooine fell into adherence with the law banning slavery in the Republic. Senator Aditya assured his colleague that the Senate would then leave him alone until his year was up; Senator Palpatine had simply smiled and replied that it was really no bother for him to do this favor and not to worry about it.

"After all," Sidious had said once the connection was terminated, turning to his young apprentice, "I suppose I had best at least show you _one_ planet during our time together."

Which led to their current situation. Anakin was burning up but was doing his best to mask his discomfort. Sidious stopped at a small roadside stand to ask directions to Jabba's castle. Anakin, looking around, was surprised at all the different species he saw milling about the streets. Demetria was populated with Humans; the only times Anakin had ever seen non-Humans in his lifetime consisted of a handful of smugglers visiting his homeworld.

Sidious returned to his apprentice with a canteen of water and a bit of food. "I suggest you stay here, Anakin," the Sith Lord commented. "It will look suspicious if I bring you to Jabba. He will ask why I have a child with me and I do not have an answer for that question that will appease the Senate."

"What should I do while I wait for you, Master?" Anakin inquired.

Sidious smiled and handed his apprentice a few credits, a rough outfit he had acquired complete with a small satchel and belt, and his lightsaber. "Put on the outfit. Hide the lightsaber but make certain you can call it to you at a moment's notice. Lay low. If anyone attempts to capture you or harm you, you will know what to do. Remember what you have learned about reading people's intentions in the Force. I will return as quickly as I can."

With that, Sidious departed, leaving Anakin to wonder exactly what he should do. On one hand, he was certain he'd be safer on the ship with the Naboo guards…but, at the same time, he wanted an adventure he could tell his brother and sister about later. Therefore, he walked over to the entrance of a back alley, used the Force to ensure it was empty, and slipped into its shadows. When he emerged, he was dressed much like many of the native children he saw running about. His other outfit and the lightsaber were in the satchel and the credits were in his belt.

Anakin paused to remember his Master's instructions. _Alright. Outfit on. Lightsaber hidden…but I can call it to my hand with the Force if I need it. Hmm…law low. Well, I now look like any other kid here. I guess I'd be best just watching the other kids and seeing what kids do on Tatooine… And I suppose that identifying myself as a Skywalker would just be looking for trouble. I need an alias…_ Making certain that his mental shield was raised and fortified, just in case of any Jedi lurking about, Anakin began to walk. His task was twofold yet simple: find other kids, and have himself a new identity figured out before he did.

An hour later, Anakin's canteen was empty and he realized he'd need to get it refilled else he'd end up dehydrating. He turned to backtrack to the area where his Master had left him as he knew there were establishments in that area that had water for sale. On his way, he noticed a small crowd of people gathered in a circle, shouting and jeering and cheering. Curious, Anakin pushed his way through the crowd…and was stunned at what he saw.

In the middle of the circle, a boy about his own age, Human with dark hair and eyes, had his fists raised defensively and was obviously sparring with a strange brown-skinned, orange-eyed non-Human with an elongated face. Anakin was intrigued by this odd creature, especially once he noticed that he—Anakin assumed it was a "he" by the masculine voice the creature showed when taunting the young boy he was fighting—was standing on his hands with his knees pulled to his chest, his feet pulled into fists.

Anakin listened as the two combatants yelled at each other between blows but quickly realized that only every third or fourth word was Basic; the rest seemed to be some sort of native dialect. Deciding that he wasn't going to figure out what the fight was about through quiet observation, Anakin turned to a man next to him. The man was very tall, with hair that couldn't be mistaken as anything but black and deep brown eyes, with a gold stripe running under his eyes. Next to him stood a blue-skinned non-Human female with long blue tentacles instead of hair and hazel eyes. He was about to ask when it hit him like a ton of bricks: _Hang on; why am I gonna ask someone what's going on when I can just read them with the Force!_

Anakin, making certain that his shields were still tightly in place, reached out to the mind of the non-Human combatant first, then to the Human. It was immediately apparent that the non-Human was the aggressor, although he couldn't determine the exact reason for the fight. He felt eyes on him and realized that the tall black-haired man and the blue-skinned female were staring at him. Anakin fought back a gulp and realized that he had somehow already drawn attention to himself, therefore he might as well just go ahead and speak. "Do you know what they're fighting about, Sir?" Anakin asked.

The black-haired man frowned. "Far as I can tell, one of the boy's friends got the Dug all riled up, asking him if he was planning to cheat again in the Boonta Eve this year. When the Dug lunged at the girl, the boy pushed her aside and told the Dug that it isn't proper to hit girls…so now the Dug's taking out his anger on the boy."

Anakin frowned. "That's not right. Do you think the girl's right that he cheats?"

The man shrugged. "I've never watched a Podrace before, to be honest with you. I wouldn't know."

Anakin sighed and reached out to the non-Human combatant—a Dug, the man had called it?—and quickly found everything he needed to know: the Dug _was_ dishonest. The Dug's anger was not because of the girl's accusation being false, but rather because he didn't like being called on his cheating. With this knowledge at hand, Anakin decided that he couldn't just stand back and watch the dark-haired boy being beat to a pulp when he was the honorable combatant, having stepped in to take a beating for an honest friend of his…from a creature that had no honor, either in his sport or his willingness to beat a girl.

Realizing that Force-pushing the Dug would undoubtedly bring unwanted attention to himself, Anakin instead grabbed a rock and threw it at the Dug with all of his strength, using the Force to add power behind the flying rock. The rock hit the Dug square in the cheek and caused him to turn straight towards Anakin. Anakin stepped forward and gave the Dug a roguish grin. "What's wrong? Mad that not everyone's as blind as you'd like them to be?"

The Dug lunged at Anakin. Allowing his anger at the Dug's dishonor to fuel him, Anakin sidestepped the lunge and immediately went on the defensive. His Master's words came to him immediately: _"__Before one expends his energy in attack, he should first always search for a weakness to exploit…"_

While watching the dark-haired boy spar with the Dug, Anakin had been more focused on who was in the wrong, not on either combatant's moves. Now Anakin intended to let the Dug attack him until he could figure out where and how to strike for maximum effect. Feinting, dodging, and blocking attacks with his arms and legs, Anakin scrutinized the Dug both physically and through the Force. After a good minute of debate, Anakin made his move—he fell forward and rolled, making certain that his legs would be in the proper position…

Right as his roll took him directly under the Dug, Anakin stretched out one leg in the most classic underhanded move to be used by one male to another. The Dug crumpled up into a small ball, whining like a hound that had just been thoroughly scolded by its master. Anakin stood, dusted off his clothes, and moved so that the Dug would be in his shadow. The Dug whimpered, "That was a cheap move! I bet you couldn't beat me fair, _wermo_!"

Anakin had no idea what "_wermo_" meant but it was close enough to the word "worm" for him to guess it wasn't a compliment. Anakin smiled. "Name the place and time."

The Dug sneered. "Boonta Eve Classic. I have a spare Pod you can use."

Anakin frowned. "And how am I supposed to know you won't sabotage the Pod?"

The dark-haired boy from before walked up behind him. "Sebulba, Humans can't race Pods! No Human has ever survived a Podrace!"

The Dug—Sebulba?—sneered. "The little _wermo_ said to name my time and place. I have. He has all but agreed. Stay out of this,_shag_."

Anakin fought back the urge to gulp. _It's alright. I'll be alright. I have the Force at my disposal._ "I repeat my question. How do I know you won't mess with the Pod before the race?"

The Dug snickered. "_Wermo_, you're good as dead from the moment you pull up to the starting line. No Human has ever made it through a Podrace alive. Why should I waste time I could be spending on my own Pod to sabotage the one I'm lending you, especially when I expect it to be in millions of little pieces before the race ends?"

The dark-haired boy—Shag?—laid a hand on Anakin's shoulder. "My friend, Melee; she's good with Podracers. She can look over it and make sure he hasn't done anything to do it. But I'm telling you, this is suicide and it ain't worth it."

Anakin turned to look at the other boy. "Don't worry about me. Not only am I going to survive the race, I'm going to win it. Just wait and see."

The Dug walked away, muttering what Anakin could only assume were obscenities. The crowd was slowly dispersing; Anakin realized that the tall black-haired man and the blue-skinned female were making no move to leave. The dark-haired boy reached out his hand. "Kitster Banai."

Anakin reached out and took the boy's proffered hand. "Andreas Phoenix," Anakin replied, giving the alias he'd come up with during his wanderings.

A young brown-haired girl now walked over. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "It's my fault this whole mess got started."

Anakin shrugged. "No it's not. You spoke your mind, and nothing you said was a lie. It's the Dug's fault this whole mess got started, 'cause he's the one who couldn't handle hearing the truth. And I'm gonna beat him in that race—fair and square—or die trying."

The girl smiled. "I hope you win. Sebulba needs to have his ego checked." She held out her hand as Kitster had. "Melee."

Anakin shook the girl's hand as he had Kitster's. "I won't let you down. I promise."

* * *

Anakin followed his two new friends through the streets of Mos Espa. They'd stopped at a stand and Anakin had gotten all three of them waters and pallies—his friends had promised that they were good and Anakin noted with quiet satisfaction that they hadn't been lying.

Anakin had been stunned to learn that both of his new friends were slaves—the meaning of the word _shag_. The language that Sebulba had been using to insult him was Huttese, a second language for nearly all residents of Tatooine.

Upon finding out that Anakin had nowhere to stay for the night, Kitster offered to let Anakin stay with him. Anakin agreed after Kitster promised to teach him some Huttese if he stayed. As they walked through the slave district, Kitster expressed some surprise at Melee's earlier behavior—he explained that Melee was usually a loud-mouthed bully, not a whimpering girl begging forgiveness. Anakin replied, nonchalantly, that Melee was probably just scared that the fight she'd started was going to end with his death, and that Melee would probably be back mostly to her normal self after the race was over.

"You seem pretty confident that you're going to survive the race," Kitster noted.

"I know I will," Anakin replied, simply.

Kitster stopped at the entrance to one of the slave dwellings. Anakin nodded at him. "Go ahead. I'll be right behind you." Once Kitster was inside, Anakin turned and walked into the middle of the road. Immediately, the tall black-haired man from before materialized from the shadows, followed closely by his non-Human companion. "Who are you and what do you want from me?" Anakin asked simply.

The tall man stopped right in front of Anakin. "I am Jedi Knight Quinlan Vos. This is my Padawan, Aayla Secura. We both felt you touch the Force earlier. We want to know who taught you. We'd also appreciate your real name."

At that moment, Anakin wanted nothing more than for his Master to show up and rescue him. He had no idea how to lie to a Jedi without being caught—he was only half-trained himself and he could catch most lies. Finally, Anakin chose to resort to half-truths. "I'm sorry but I can't tell you my real name; I don't know you and my real name could put me in danger. I am traveling with Senator Palpatine; he was on leave and he promised me that he'd give me an educational trip on his ship while he was on leave from the Senate, but Senator Aditya called him the other day and asked him to come here and settle some sort of dispute and told him he'd have to go see some guy named Jabba to do it. I insisted on coming with him but I guess he found out this Jabba person is bad news 'cause he told me to wait for him here in Mos Espa. So I am. As for touching the Force…exactly what do you mean by that?"

The Jedi Knight paused, as if testing Anakin's words. After several moments, the Jedi responded, "During the fight, you touched the minds of the combatants."

Anakin frowned. "Yeah, what about it?"

The Jedi sighed. "How did you do it? Who taught you how?"

Anakin took a step back. "I've…I've always done it. Since I was little. No one taught me how to do it; I just started to do it…" Anakin's voice trailed off as he remembered the first time he'd ever consciously touched the mind of another person.

"When was that?" the Jedi asked.

Anakin closed his eyes and forced himself to hold back his tears. "The night my mom died. I woke up with a really bad feeling and I made my brother and sister get up. I'd felt other people's minds before that but it was never on purpose…it would just happen. That night though I had a really bad feeling that there was danger. So I reached out with my feelings to see if I could find my parents…and I did. And they were scared. And there were other people with them. I lead my brother and sister to the garage…and we got there just in time to see our mom get shot by one of the burglars. And ever since that day I test everyone I meet to make sure they aren't there to hurt me or my family."

"You didn't test me or my Padawan."

Anakin smiled. "You reacted. When I reached out, you reacted. I've met a Jedi before. He reacted too and I couldn't touch his mind. So I decided not to waste my time trying to touch your minds."

"You are shielding your thoughts from us right now," the Padawan commented.

"Of course. When I met that first Jedi and realized that he could hide his thoughts from me, I decided to try to figure out how to do it too. And I have." Anakin looked away shyly. "But I'm still not very good at it. I slip sometimes." _And I wish the two of you would leave before I slip now and end up getting both me and my Master dead!_ Anakin screamed in his mind.

"You used your anger to strengthen you earlier," the Knight accused.

And, at that moment, Anakin knew that he'd messed up royally. _That's right. My Master said that Jedi don't use their emotions. They think that using your emotions is evil._ "Is that bad?" Anakin asked.

The Knight sighed. "You are too old for training…but we can't risk having a rogue Dark Jedi running around—or, worse, a Sith."

Anakin cocked his head to the left out of old habit. "Dark Jedi? Sith?"

The Knight groaned and muttered, "Good job, Vos; let's make the kid curious…"

Anakin sighed. "Look, if what everyone keeps telling me is true, I'll be dead this time tomorrow anyways and you won't have to worry about me. If I do somehow survive, the Senator should be back by then and you can talk to him about whatever you're worried about—I'm just a kid so it'd probably all go way over my head anyways, or so my dad always claims whenever I ask him if I can sit and listen while he talks to his friends. Either way, I'm not gonna come with you willingly 'cause I don't know anything about you except that you're Jedi and you don't seem to like me much."

The Knight sighed. "Very well, young one. Remain here with your friend for the night. We will come in the morning to escort the two of you to the Mos Espa Grand Arena. I will help you inspect the Pod that the Dug is lending you; I am against you participating in the race but I understand why you insist on doing it, therefore I will sponsor you if necessary—of course, if I do sponsor you, I'd like to ask that you please not die on me."

Anakin smiled. "Don't worry. I'm not going to die tomorrow. If I did, when the rest of my family joined me in the afterlife, I wouldn't hear the end of it for all eternity!"

The Jedi chuckled. "I suppose you wouldn't."

* * *

The next day, the Jedi arrived right on time to escort Anakin and Kitster to the Arena. Mere moments before they were to leave, Melee showed up. The five arrived in front of the Arena just in time for Senator Palpatine—who had finished his negotiations with Jabba early in the morning—to spot Anakin and dash up to him.

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you!"

"I'm sorry, Senator," Anakin said quietly, "but there's something I have to do before we leave Tatooine." Anakin looked over at the Jedi and his Padawan. "You guys mind going on without me? I'll catch up."

The Jedi nodded once, succinctly, and the group entered the Arena. Anakin turned to his Master. "I'm in the race today."

Anakin watched as his Master jerked in shock. "Anakin, what in the name of the Force…"

"Master, the name everyone knows me by here is Andreas Phoenix. As for why I'm doing this…" Anakin quickly summed up everything that had happened to him since his Master had left him the previous morning.

When Anakin finished, Sidious was frowning. "You are certain the Jedi do not suspect anything."

"No, I'm not, which is why I told them to talk to you. If I messed up, you'll be able to tell and you can punish me however you think I deserve. But for the moment…I don't like that the Dug thinks I'm a wimp and I intend to prove him wrong."

"What does the Force tell you about this choice?" Sidious asked his apprentice.

"The Force tells me that I'm going to win this race."

"Then go. Do it."

Anakin turned to enter the Arena…then paused. "Master, can you do me a favor?"

"Such as…?"

"Kitster—my new friend—he's a slave, Master. So is Melee. The Force tells me that Melee belongs here, as a slave…but that I am supposed to help Kitster, and that this race is supposed to be how I help him. Kit tells me that people bet on these races all the time and that everything from simple money to ships to even slaves change hands every year due to the Boonta Eve Classic."

"And let me guess: you want me to make a wager with Kitster's owner for the boy's freedom?"

"Yes, Master."

"And what would I wager? The people here do not accept Republic moneys."

"Then bet me. If I win, we get Kitster. If I lose, Kitster's owner gets me."

"Are you so certain of your victory, young Skywalker?"

"I am, my Master."

"Then very well. I shall make this wager. Remember your teachings, my apprentice. I sense your death if you do not."

"I won't forget, my Master, I swear it. I will see you after the race…I wonder if Sebulba will let me keep the Pod."

* * *

Half an hour later, Anakin Skywalker informed Kitster Banai that he was now free. Sebulba had been humiliated on the last lap, having locked his engine with Anakin's in a last-ditch attempt to destroy the boy…and had succeeded only in destroying his own Pod. As Anakin glanced at his Master, who was speaking with the Jedi and his Padawan, he absently wondered if Sebulba had even survived the crash. Either way, Anakin knew that Sebulba's reputation would be seriously wounded after having lost to the first Human to ever successfully participate in a Podrace.

After ten minutes, the Jedi Knight walked over to Anakin and Kitster. He cocked his head quickly to the side—Anakin recognized this as a command for him to follow, which he did after assuring his friend that he'd be right back. Once they were out of earshot, the Jedi spoke. "The senator explained to me what's going on, Anakin."

Anakin frowned. "He told you my name then."

"Yes, he did…and I understand now your reluctance to reveal it. You're the first Skywalker to leave Demetria in a millennium, after all, and I'm sure there are plenty of…unscrupulous sorts out there who would love to get their hands on you to see how much your family thinks you're worth." The Jedi sighed. "You beat the odds down there. The senator tells me that you put your own freedom on the line for your new friend, betting that you would win in a race where no Human has even survived…and you did it. The Force must truly be with you, young Skywalker. The Jedi have been sworn to leave your family to its devices and to take care of its own problems, and so I will let you leave in peace."

Anakin bowed slightly. "Thank you, Jedi Vos. I am in your debt…I know that letting me go must be hard for you when you still seem so convinced that I am a danger. If you or any of your comrades are ever in need, I hope I speak for my entire family when I tell you that we would be honored to help in any way."

As Anakin and his Master left the Arena with Kitster trailing, seemingly in shock at his new freedom, Anakin heard his Master's voice over their bond: _Anakin, was it truly necessary to not only claim to owe the Jedi a favor, but to also make a vow to help him or any Jedi he sends to you?_

Anakin sent his Master a mental smile. _Well, Master, it seemed to be the last thing he'd expect considering he was so convinced that I was the evil one. Besides, since he's so convinced that I'm dangerous, what are the odds he'll ever take me up on the offer?_

Sidious frowned. _You'd best be careful, my young apprentice. I believe you informed me that you had promised your sister that you would not return as a politician._

Anakin stopped walking. His breath caught in his throat, which had suddenly gone bone dry. As Sidious turned, he realized that the shock and terror was apparent in his apprentice's face. It took nearly a minute for Anakin to reply, and when he did, his mental voice was shaky. _Oh, Force help me…I can't become a politician! I won't!_

Sidious noticed that Kitster was staring at the two of them, confusion written on his features. "What's wrong with him?" the boy asked after a few moments.

Sidious chuckled. "I believe the shock of everything that has happened these past couple days is beginning to sink in now. The poor child has never been off his homeworld before; I dare say that having all of this happen on his first time visiting the surface of another world may have been more distressing than he initially believed."

"What are you going to do with me?" Kitster asked hesitantly.

"Well, son, that is up to you and Anakin to determine. Inform him that, once the two of you have decided, to meet me at the ship—we must be departing before anything _else_ happens."

Kitster laughed. "Sounds like a good idea."

* * *

Kitster chose to stay on Tatooine. Anakin bought Kitster a book on etiquette so that he would be able to get himself a job and gifted his friend enough credits that he could free Melee and have both of them live comfortably until Kitster could finish the book and get his job. He then dashed to the ship, the Force telling him that he would see his friend again someday.

Once Anakin boarded the Nubian vessel, it lifted off nearly immediately. Anakin moved to his Master's side. Only after they had left the planet's atmosphere did Anakin speak. "Master, did all of that really happen?"

"Yes, my apprentice, it did. And it appears that there is a skill that I must teach you before we are to make any more stops during our trip."

"What skill would that be, my Master?"

"The ability to lie to another Force-sensitive without having your lie detected. It is not an easy skill…but if you are going to be running into Jedi on every world we visit, you are going to need to know how to deceive them before one of them grows suspicious of us."

"Yes, Master."

* * *

_**Seven Months Later**_

Anakin stood at the viewport, staring out over his homeworld. His skill in the Force had grown greatly since leaving Tatooine. His mental shields, previously strong yet inconsistent, were now a permanent fixture in his mind—he had discovered that he could best keep them consistent by ceasing to lower them every time he felt he was out of danger, rather keeping them up all the time unless his Master requested that he lower them. He had also finally mastered the art of lying to other Force-sensitives; sometimes even his own Master would be deceived by one of Anakin's lies.

Anakin fingered the lightsaber hilt clipped to his belt. After proving himself able to simultaneously block the sting blasts from two remotes, Sidious had taken Anakin to acquire parts to build his own lightsaber. They had sparred daily since then, with Sidious having Anakin work on his Forms sometimes for hours after a duel. At first the rigorous nature of lightsaber training made Anakin feel as though his Master were torturing him but, as his body grew accustomed to the constant exercise, he found himself able to practice longer and harder without becoming exhausted. In fact, Anakin's Master had even seen fit to put together an obstacle course in the aft of the ship for Anakin to run some days in lieu of lightsaber practice so that the boy could improve his Force-aided acrobatics as well as work on using the Force to increase his endurance even further.

Sidious watched his apprentice dash around the course, leaping and twisting and darting about as he tried to beat his previous time. He had been observing his apprentice's interactions with Captains Ivewo and Hieya ever since the beginning of their journey. He half-wished that the Tatooinian boy, Kitster, had chosen to come with them, as he would have been ideal for this test…but Sidious knew that Anakin had formed a fairly strong attachment to Captain Ivewo, who had become almost another uncle to the boy.

It was a time-honored tradition among the Sith: in order for an apprentice to prove his or her devotion to the Order, the apprentice must prove that he or she is willing to do anything for the Order…even slay a close friend. And so Sidious put together some forged files on a datapad—undeniable evidence that Captain Ivewo was a Jedi double-agent gathering intelligence on the two Sith on the ship and intended to turn them in to the Jedi when he returned to Coruscant.

That night, he entered Anakin's bedchamber and turned over the "evidence" that he had "found" of Ivewo's "duplicity." He listened to Anakin's stuttered murmurs of how it could not be true—how it was impossible that his friend could be so willing to turn him after all they'd been through in the previous months. Finally, Anakin stood, his young body trembling with shock and outrage, and he bolted through the hatch.

Anakin found Captain Hieya in the cockpit. Hieya had been briefed by Sidious; he knew the importance of this test and was simply grateful that it would be Ivewo dying this night and not himself. Hieya confirmed Sidious's story and told Anakin where to find Ivewo.

Ten minutes later, Anakin confronted his friend. He waved the datapad in front of Ivewo and he admitted it was his, but denied adamantly any intentions to turn them in. Anakin was confused; the Force confirmed that Ivewo was being honest…_but, then again, my Master taught me how to lie without being detected…who is to say that he hasn't taught his people how to lie as well?_

Anakin threw the datapad at Ivewo, who caught it and switched it on. The blood drained from his face as he read the evidence against him…and he realized the role that he was to play. He realized, in retrospect, that he should have known that this outcome would be inevitable; after all, both of them knew how their Lord had turned Lord Maul against him in order to prove Maul's worthiness of the title of Sith Lord, and the reason why it had been himself that Maul had needed to attack—Sidious had been the only person Maul had ever become close to in his life.

Ivewo looked up at Anakin and said, simply, "I'm sorry." Anakin took this as the confession he'd been hoping not to hear…and he realized what he had to do. In order to protect himself and his Master, in order to protect their Order, and in order to prove his worth to his Master, the traitor must die, friend or not. Anakin ignited his lightsaber with the trademark _snap-hiss_ and stared for a moment at its crimson blade.

And he brought it down on his former friend neck, severing his head from his body.

He turned to see his Master turn the corner and walk up to him. "Very good, my young apprentice. I knew all along that Ivewo was a spy…but it was necessary. In order to be formally inducted into the Order of the Sith…one must first prove their loyalty to the Order. In slaying this traitor, despite your attachment to him, you have proven your worth. You are not yet old enough to be formally inducted as a Dark Lord of the Sith…but I now feel you worthy to know the name of our Order, and my own name as the current Sith Master."

Anakin's eyes had widened as far as they could. _Sith…that's one of the names the Jedi used! The Jedi are so scared of us when there are only two fully-trained Sith and then me? The Sith must truly be powerful…_ "I am honored, my Master."

"From this day forward, my young apprentice, you may address me as Lord Sidious…in private, of course."

Anakin smiled and blinked, showing his gratitude in the Demetrian way as he simultaneously did so in the way his Master would understand. "Thank you, my Master…Lord Sidious. I will guard your name with my life."

"I know you will, my boy, else you would not know it." He turned to leave. "Come, my apprentice. It's time for you to go home…I must soon be returning to the Senate and, I assure you, if you accompany me there, you will be a politician before you leave."

Anakin forced himself to look back over the mutilated body of his friend before returning his attention to his Master. "What should we do with his body, Lord Sidious?"

"I will have Captain Hieya dispose of it. Now let us go; you have packing to do."

* * *

Anakin ran down the ramp to his sister's waiting arms. No sooner had his sister released him from a tight hug that had nearly choked him than his older brother had picked up where his sister had left off. After they released him, Anakin smiled at his father and uncle, who were keeping a respectful distance while allowing the children to reacquaint themselves. Besides, there were a few new faces here.

Anakin noticed them the second he got his breath back. "Um…hi?" he said somewhat shyly upon spotting the two girls and boy behind his siblings.

Nalini quickly introduced her friends as Brea Fallon and Imogen Sullivan. Mahaja introduced his friend as Liam Reilly. Anakin quickly looked them all over. Brea was a hazel-eyed blonde with a medium complexion; Imogen had blue eyes and hair so black in shone blue, much as Jedi Vos's had. As for his brother's friend…Liam had brown eyes, brown hair, and the knowing smirk that all younger children hate to see on an older child…it made Anakin wish he had his lightsaber so he could cut it right off the older boy's face… Anakin felt his blood freeze at the violent thought and was immediately grateful that his lightsaber was hidden at the bottom of his one suitcase. He then decided that the thought itself was okay—after all, that smirk was very irritating—as long as he didn't act on it.

_Yes_, Anakin thought, _I did kill Captain Ivewo…but that's because he was going to betray us to the Jedi. Liam has done nothing but give me an annoying look. That is no reason to kill._

_But I do suppose I could always challenge him to a sparring match later and wipe that annoying smirk off his face._

* * *

NEXT CHAPTER: TPM era!!!

Wow. Fifteen pages. When my longest before this has been a fairly consistent seven pages. I do apologize for the length. I really do. I will try to avoid such length in the future…but I was desperate to get to TPM, and now we're going to be there in the next chapter!

Okay, so I suppose I'll have to start the next chapter with a brief note on the two years I will be skipping…but it's not really going to be anything of much significance. Not compared to the significance of Anakin meeting Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan (guess Ani was wrong about Vos not calling in that favor!)

Well, as I just made you read fifteen pages of material, let me stop drabbling on down here so I can get to bed. It is, after all, 3:15 a.m. Yet another record for me…

As always, late-night typing may equal grammar or spelling mistakes…or things not making sense. Let me know if you spot anything and I'll get on fixing it!


	7. Jedi on Demetria

**The Dreaded Yet Expected Author's Note:**

Thank you to my reviewers and to my quieter readers alike. I apologize for the long wait for this chapter and only hope it meets everyone's expectations. I have also fixed an error pointed out to me in chapter 5 where Alaric called his late wife "Padmé"; he is now using the correct name of "Shmi." Thank you d.greynight for pointing that one out to me…I was so looking forward to getting to this point that I had "Padmé" on my mind!

Just to make sure everything is clear, this chapter begins two years after the previous chapter, with Ani just about to turn ten years old. Any pertinent information about the previous two years will be provided in flashbacks and memories. Some material in this chapter will be borrowed from Terry Brooks' novelization of The Phantom Menace.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars; George Lucas does. I'm just playing with his galaxy. Please don't sue. I do, however, claim a certain level of understood ownership over my original characters and locations and, although I would be flattered for someone else to jump into my itty bitty sandbox with me, please let me know before you do!

* * *

_Anakin found himself standing on a balcony next to a large lake flanked by mountains. He was looking down upon a smiling woman with deep brown eyes and chestnut hair. Vaguely he heard a male voice speaking words binding him and this woman into matrimony. Right as he was dipping down to capture her lips with his…_

Two years had passed since Anakin's trip with his Master. Anakin groaned and fought the urge to use his feelings of annoyance to destroy the alarm clock that had just—for the fifth time in as many days—awakened him right before he could kiss the beautiful girl in his vision. Each night he noticed new details about the location of the wedding…and each night the girl became more and more beautiful. Anakin was quite curious about this vision: he had never before met the girl in his vision, nor did he have any idea where the wedding in his vision was to take place. Demetria was a planet of gently rolling hills; the mountains next to the lake in his vision made it clear that the wedding's location was certainly not on Demetria.

Anakin suddenly remembered why it was that he had set his alarm clock and leaped from his bed, quickly dressing and running for the landing pad. In no time, he was standing with his brother and sister as tradition required. His Master's visits had grown sporadic—although the time between visits was now more tolerable as his Master had gifted his family with personal holoprojectors for each of them—and when Anakin had initially heard that his family was expecting guests, Anakin had been hoping that this was his Master coming to visit him in the guise of visiting to check up on Demetria.

With the election of Demetria's first Senator, Coen Dedrick, a year and a half ago, the Naboo senator had no longer had his convenient excuse to come to Demetria every three months or so. In fact, the last time Anakin had seen his Master in person was a year ago, when Senator Dedrick had invited Senator Palpatine to Demetria to discuss some important legislation going through the Senate at the time.

Anakin returned his focus to the present…where the promise he had made to a Jedi nearly three years before had come back to haunt him. Anakin had been so convinced that Jedi Vos would never actually send any Jedi needing assistance to Demetria when he made his promise…and yet, that was why he and his family were now standing here on the platform. Jedi Vos had contacted the Skywalkers through Palpatine with news that there were two Jedi on Tatooine that he was sending to Demetria, as Tatooine was simply too dangerous a planet for them to be on considering their current mission. Anakin had then been forced to explain to his father and uncle, shame-faced, the vow he had made to Jedi Vos those few years before. His father and uncle had been grateful that Vos had not chosen to harm Anakin in any way…but they did make Anakin promise to consult them first before making any future alliances.

Anakin watched the silver J-Type Nubian vessel come to a gentle landing in front of him and his family. It was gorgeous in Anakin's eyes—sleek and fast-looking, with beautiful lines. Anakin's hands itched to touch the controls…but he knew it would never happen and berated himself for thinking about it.

The ship's ramp lowered and two men began to walk down towards the waiting Skywalkers. Anakin quickly determined that these were the two Jedi. He quickly checked his mental shields—not as if it were truly necessary for him to do so, as Anakin had finally reached a point where holding his shields up and tight was as natural and unconscious as breathing. Once his quick scan of his shields was complete, he focused on the Jedi. One was a man just out of middle age—Anakin estimated that he was probably around 50 years of age—with long, flowing brown hair, a mustache and beard, and a kind look to him. Walking to his right and just behind was a young man appearing to be in his early twenties, with reddish hair that was cropped short with the exception of a long braid hanging over his right shoulder. Anakin recognized the younger man's hairstyle as that of a Padawan and quickly surmised that the older man must be the younger man's Master.

Rurik had already walked up to the older Jedi and the two men bowed in greeting. Rurik wasted no time getting to business. "I am King Rurik. My family has been informed that the two of you are in need of assistance. How can we help you?"

The older Jedi replied, "I am Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. This is my Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi. We were forced to run a blockade in this vessel and its hyperdrive was badly damaged during our flight. The Temple is sending mechanics and a new hyperdrive; all we require is a place to stay until this mechanic can arrive."

"I see. Are the two of you alone?"

Anakin could tell that Master Jinn was not comfortable with the question…but he answered anyways, after seeming to consider Rurik for several seconds. Anakin could only guess that the Master Jedi had been giving his uncle a quick mind-scan to determine his intent. "We are escorting Queen Amidala of Naboo to Coruscant. Also with us are the Queen herself, along with Captain Panaka, her head of security; Ric Olié, the pilot; three of the Queen's handmaidens, and a Gungan named Jar Jar Binks."

Rurik nodded. "Do not worry; knowledge of the Queen's presence shall not, under any circumstances, extend beyond the walls of this castle. You have my word."

At that, the Jedi Master turned to his Padawan and nodded. The Padawan disappeared into the ship. Three minutes later, the Padawan reappeared, this time with several people (and one pinkish-skinned floppy-eared long-snouted stalk-eyed creature that Anakin could only assume was the Gungan). Once the entire party was at the bottom of the ramp, the Jedi Master introduced each member of the group to the Skywalkers…and Anakin's jaw nearly went slack when he saw the girl who identified herself as Padmé. _Star's end…I recognize her! I've dreamt about her every night for the last week and a half!_

Anakin was, in fact, so mesmerized by the appearance of the girl that it took his brother jabbing his arm to make him realize that it was his turn to introduce himself. "Oh! I'm sorry! I'm…I'm Anakin."

The Jedi Master chuckled. "Ah, so you are the young man that Jedi Vos has told us all so much about. It's a pleasure to finally have a face to go with the name, young Anakin."

After a moment, Alaric commented, "Queen Amidala, Master Jinn, Captain Panaka…would you care to join my brother and myself in discussing any necessary security precautions and other requirements you have for the duration of your stay?" Upon the nods of all of the addressed, Alaric turned to Anakin. "Son, why don't you give the rest of our guests a tour of the premises, as it seems they will be here for a little while?"

Anakin nodded then turned to the rest of the entourage as his father, uncle, the Jedi Master, the Captain, and the Queen turned toward the banquet hall. The pilot—Olié—immediately bowed out of the tour, stating that he would likely be remaining with his ship for the duration of the stay. Once the pilot was once again within his ship, Anakin turned to the Padawan, the three handmaidens, and the Gungan. "Okay, if you could all just follow me?"

Anakin quickly gave them all the same tour that he had given his Master so many years before. Upon reaching the room housing the Jedi Lord's artifacts, the Padawan told Anakin to just go on without him for the moment—Anakin felt the Padawan's fascination through the Force. He smiled and nodded, quipping that he'd had a feeling that he'd lose the "Master Jedi" in this room. At the title, the Padawan blushed slightly and replied that he was a mere learner and did not deserve such a title. Anakin shrugged and replied that he had a feeling that the Padawan wasn't going to be a Padawan much longer…and then almost shivered as the Force confirmed his words—spoken before his mind had even realized he was speaking at all—were in fact truth.

Anakin quietly led the handmaidens and the Gungan into the garden labyrinth. Once the other two handmaidens and the Gungan were distracted by the flowers and other plants, Anakin quietly led Padmé to the center of the garden. Once they had reached the fountain in the middle of the garden—a recent gift to Demetria from the government of Alderaan—Anakin turned to Padmé and smiled. "Are you an angel?" Anakin asked the girl quietly before he could stop himself.

The handmaiden frowned and Anakin could feel her confusion. "What?"

"An angel." Anakin turned to the fountain and watched the water as it shot from the top and cascaded down into the pool. "They live on the moons of Iego, or so I've heard. They are the most beautiful creatures in the universe and they have hearts of gold."

Padmé's emotions now read as confusion tinged with flattery. "I've never heard of angels…"

Anakin turned to her and smiled once again. "You must be one of them. Maybe you just don't know it."

Padmé looked away, blushing. "You're a funny little boy…but I thank you for the compliments."

Anakin shrugged and fell silent, motioning to a bench next to the fountain. The handmaiden sat down and Anakin joined her. After several minutes of silence, Anakin looked at her. "I'm going to marry you someday."

Padmé frowned…then began to laugh. Anakin frowned at her amusement. "I mean it!"

Padmé stopped laughing but a huge, amused smile remained. "You are an odd one. Why do you say that?"

Anakin hesitated, knowing that he couldn't tell her about his visions without having to deal with the Jedi later. "I guess because it's what I believe…"

Padmé treated him with a new smile—one that he recognized from his vision. "Well, I'm afraid I can't marry you, Anakin…you're just a little boy."

Anakin met Padmé's eyes. "I won't always be."

As the little boy stood to walk away, Padmé Naberrie shuddered slightly at the distant yet intense look that had entered the child's eyes while he spoke that statement…and the chill that she had felt upon hearing the words. Turning back to the fountain, she found herself wishing that Captain Panaka had not been so insistent that she and Sabé switch places for the duration of the group's stay on this strange planet…then she pushed the odd thought from her mind. _He's just a child. I bet he's just heard his older brother flirting with some girls and says that to every pretty girl he meets. As for that chill…well, it is a bit chilly out here, especially compared to the desert we came here from. It must've been a slight breeze._

* * *

Half an hour later, Anakin led the group out of the labyrinth and showed the handmaidens and the Gungan to the guest wing, allowing them each to choose a room. He could hear Padmé laughing with the other handmaidens as he left and found himself desperately wanting a wall to bang his head on. _Stupid, stupid boy! Yeah, how about I tell the girl of my dreams that I'm gonna marry her someday when she doesn't even know me and let's see what she'll think of the idea…oh, wait, I know—she'll think I'm crazy!_

Anakin returned to the artifact room and found the Padawan sitting in the middle of the room with his eyes closed. Realizing that the Padawan must be deep in meditation, Anakin sighed and sat down, quietly appraising the Padawan. He found himself fascinated by the Padawan's outfit and especially his braid. Several minutes later, when the Padawan came out of his meditation, Anakin asked him, "What is your braid for?"

The Padawan replied, "It signifies my status as a Padawan learner. Each bead in the braid represents a trial I have passed in the quest to be declared ready for the Trials."

Anakin frowned. "I'm sorry but I'm curious…what are these Trials?"

"Every Padawan must pass the Trials before being declared a Jedi Knight."

"Oh. Okay."

The ensuing silence between the two could have been pierced with a vibroblade. The young Sith apprentice knew that any slip could reveal himself and his Master…but he was very curious about the ginger-haired Padawan sitting before him. The young Sith had no doubt in his mind that Jedi were evil—after all, they stole babies from their families and then forced them to become emotionless zombies, blindly following orders from their Masters and eventually the Jedi High Council—but the Padawan was, as of yet, still merely a learner and therefore he likely wasn't completely evil yet. _No_, Anakin thought, _the Padawan hasn't done anything wrong. He's just an innocent victim. It's not his fault that he's training to become a Jedi—the babies the Jedi steal aren't given much of a choice in the matter._

Anakin was shaken from his reverie by the Padawan's voice. "Master Vos told my Master that you've taught yourself about the Force."

Anakin shrugged. "That's right."

"What all have you taught yourself to do with the Force?"

Anakin reached out with his mind and brushed against the Padawan's shields. "I can touch the minds of people who don't know how to protect themselves from it…and I've figured out how to protect myself from other people who can touch my mind, consciously or not. I can also lift little things with my mind and sometimes I can see something before it's gonna happen…and I get these weird dreams sometimes."

The Padawan's curiosity was obviously peaked. "Strange dreams?"

"Yeah. Sometimes I'll dream about someplace I've never been or someone I've never met…other times the person or place in my dreams will be someone or someplace I've seen many times. The only things the dreams have in common is that they will stick around for days at a time and that most of them seem to like to come true."

The Padawan seemed deep in thought. After several moments, Anakin picked up a whisper of a thought from behind the Padawan's shields: _Could it be possible that this untrained child is having visions? I must ask my Master about the likelihood of this later…_

Anakin stood, realizing that saying anything else could bring undue attention to himself…if he hadn't already. He flung a few mental curses at himself then forced himself to smile. "Anyways, if you want, I can show you to the guest wing so you can pick a room for yourself and your Master…"

The Padawan stood. "That would be very nice, thank you."

Anakin began to lead the way. After a moment, he hesitated. "I'm sorry but I can't remember your name and I don't like calling you 'the Padawan' in my mind…" Anakin's cheeks flushed slightly with his admission.

The Padawan laughed. "Let me guess: my name fled with all of your other conscious thoughts upon seeing a certain pretty girl?"

Anakin's already red face turned crimson. "Uh…you could say that…"

The Padawan smiled and extended his hand. "I am Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Anakin took the proffered hand and shook it. "Anakin Skywalker."

The Sith apprentice turned and once again began to lead the way, Obi-Wan following close behind. _Obi-Wan? What kind of name is Obi-Wan? Force, it sounds almost like a droid's identification number!_ After a moment's contemplation, Anakin asked—in an off-handed manner that he hoped wouldn't seem offensive—"Has anyone ever told you that your name sounds like a droid's ID?"

Anakin could feel Obi-Wan's upset through the Force. "Yes. Sometimes I find myself wondering what in the name of the Force my parents were thinking when they gave me my name."

Anakin laughed. "Would you mind if I gave you a nickname that didn't sound so…droid-y?"

Anakin looked back in time to see the Padawan shrug. "If you want to, go right on ahead."

And so Anakin stopped and sat down, closing his eyes. Reaching out to the Force, he concentrated for a moment on the Padawan, simultaneously asking the Force what It thought the Padawan's name should be. As the name entered Anakin's head, he opened his eyes and voiced it aloud. "Ben. I'm gonna call you Ben."

"Ben," the Padawan repeated, as though testing the name. After a few seconds of contemplation, the Padawan smiled. "I like it."

Anakin smiled in return and turned to begin leading the way once again. "By the way, since I'm gonna call you by a nickname, you can call me by mine too if you want."

"Oh? And what's yours?"

"Ani."

Obi-Wan smiled. "My birth name is that of a droid and your nickname sounds like a girl's name. What a wonderful pair we make…"

Anakin laughed brightly. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say the Force wanted us together!" He twisted his head to flash a smile at the Padawan. "Hey, Ben, after you get your room all picked out, I'd love to play a couple games of grav-pool with you…that is, if you're interested…"

Obi-Wan's brows raised. "You have a grav-pool table?"

Anakin shrugged. "Uncle Rurik set up an entire arcade in the wing where I stay with my brother and sister."

Obi-Wan frowned. "You're positive that no one will mind if I am in that wing?"

Anakin was about to reply that of course no one would mind him having his friend in the arcade…but he stopped himself. The last time he had ever referred to anyone as a friend, that person had betrayed him and Anakin had been forced to kill the traitor. Instead, Anakin replied, "My brother and sister take their friends into the arcade all the time. I'm sure no one will mind you being in there as long as you're with me or one of my siblings."

Obi-Wan finally agreed to the idea and Anakin picked up his pace, thrilled at the idea of having someone to play with. Obi-Wan had a room picked out in short order and he quickly sent a message to his Master informing him which room was theirs and his plans for the rest of the day. Upon receiving confirmation and permission from his Master to take some downtime, Obi-Wan turned to Anakin, who smiled and quickly began to lead the way to the arcade.

* * *

Four hours later, Anakin had won three games of grav-pool and Obi-Wan had won five. During their time playing, Obi-Wan had initiated a conversation with the young boy who was his guide and companion. During this conversation, Obi-Wan had learned that the boy's mother was dead, the children and their father had lived here for almost six years, and that this was Anakin's second year of public schooling—before then he had been taught by private tutors. He also learned that the child had only ever left Demetria once, under the supervision of Senator Palpatine of Naboo, who had been the Senator responsible for Demetria before the election of Senator Dedrick.

In return, Anakin had learned that Obi-Wan had been inducted into the Jedi Order at the age of two—a fairly old age for a new youngling to be admitted—and that he had been Master Jinn's Padawan since the age of 13, with his current age being 25. Obi-Wan also informed Anakin that Qui-Gon was indeed 60 years of age, which surprised the boy to no end—he would never have suspected that Qui-Gon was anywhere beyond his early fifties!

Anakin was also surprised by how easy the Jedi Padawan was to speak to. Ben was witty and friendly, with a sparkle in his eyes and a charm that Anakin had only previously seen from the odd Corellian who visited Demetria. In fact, by the time the two were called for dinner via Ben's bond with his Master, Anakin was truly finding it difficult to reconcile Ben with the definition of Jedi that he had been holding for the past three years. _I've met five Jedi so far in my life—two Masters, a Knight, and two Padawans. Master Windu was cold and emotionless, sticking to protocol like it would kill him if he didn't. Jedi Vos and his Padawan weren't any better than Master Windu. I've hardly had a chance to get to know Master Jinn, but he doesn't really seem all that much different from the others. Ben, however…Ben is different. Maybe it's because the Jedi found him so late?_

Anakin sighed. _So, okay, I've found one Jedi who doesn't fit the mould…and he's a Padawan, not even a full Jedi yet. That doesn't mean anything; it just means that there's one Padawan that they found relatively late who hasn't chosen to fully subscribe to the Jedi way yet. I bet that, if I give him a few years, he's gonna end up just like the rest of them._

The last thought Anakin had before entering the banquet room with Ben in tow was this: _I sure hope I'm wrong. I like Ben like he is. I don't want him to change!_

* * *

NEXT CHAPTER: More of Anakin getting to know Obi-Wan and even getting familiarized with Qui-Gon a bit perhaps. More time with Padmé. And, of course, a bit of Ani and Palps convo (as poor Palps was fairly well ignored this chapter).

Once again, I apologize for the wait and I hope it was up-to-par; I've been a bit sick for the last week and haven't been able to make my muse fly back to TPM era from the pre-ANH timeline it has been exploring. Bad muse! Bad!

As always, let me know if you find any typos or errors and I'll get to correcting them! Thank you all for reading and I hope to get the next chapter up by the end of this week (although it's more likely going to be more like this time next week unless I manage to shake this little bug and regain my ability to _concentrate!!!_; if it does take that long, I apologize in advance.)

Reviews are always appreciated and remind me that there are people out there who are eager for another chapter!


	8. Gungans, Ships, and Ideas

**The Dreaded Yet Expected Author's Note:**

Thank you to my reviewers and to my quieter readers alike. Again, I must apologize for the wait…I got rid of my little bug…just in time for an invasion of little bugs in my room! Therefore, for the past nearly two weeks I have been both battling the flea invasion and dealing with holiday cleaning; let's just say that I haven't had much time to work on actually _writing_ the story, although I am now pretty dead-set on how certain things in the far-distant future will happen and, well, let's just say that there might be a bit of foreshadowing hidden in the coming chapters! Also, I'd like to note that there has been a minor change to the end of the first chapter due to a continuity problem I noticed between that chapter and Anakin's recollection of the event in Chapter 6…I preferred the second version of events and so changed things for consistency.

Again, some material in this chapter will be borrowed from Terry Brooks' novelization of The Phantom Menace and from Wookieepedia.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars; George Lucas does. I'm just playing with his galaxy. Please don't sue. I do, however, claim a certain level of understood ownership over my original characters and locations.

* * *

Anakin and Obi-Wan walked into the banquet room to find everyone else already seated at the table. Anakin quickly took note of where everyone was seated. Rurik was, as always, at the head of the table. To his right sat Alaric; the Queen sat at Rurik's left, with the four handmaidens next to her, Padmé first, then the other three (whose names Anakin had never caught). Mahaja sat to Alaric's right, followed by Nalini and then two empty seats. On the other side of the empty seats sat Qui-Gon, with the Gungan—_Jar Jar, wasn't it?_—next to him. The pilot, who had apparently chosen to leave his ship to attend, was seated next to the Gungan and looking far less than happy about it.

Anakin seated himself next to his twin and Obi-Wan sat next to him. Rurik smiled and asked, "Did the two of you have fun?"

Anakin replied, "Yes, Uncle. Thank you."

Satisfied, Rurik began the meal. For once, however, Anakin found that he wasn't bored. After all, a quick peek across the table and slightly left would always reward him with the radiant face of the girl the Force told him he would marry, and he was very pleased that his uncle had placed everyone so he could sit next to Ben…even though he quickly found that, every time he would sneak a peek over at Padmé, he would return his eyes to his plate to find his vegetables floating a centimeter off his plate and Ben wearing small knowing smirk.

A sudden movement out of the corner of Anakin's eyes made his head flash up and turn right, just in time to see the Jedi Master suddenly reach out and grab the flying object…which turned out to be the Gungan's tongue, which had flown out to capture a fruit sitting in the middle of the table. Ben rolled his eyes and Anakin couldn't fully stifle a giggle at the sight. Rurik commented, "Your reflexes are impressive, Master Jedi."

Qui-Gon nodded. "Thank you, Your Majesty." The Jedi Master then turned to the Gungan and he said, his voice hard, "Don't do that again."

Alaric chuckled. "It's quite alright, Master Jedi. At least Anakin isn't dozing off for once."

Anakin blushed and Mahaja and Nalini laughed at their brother's discomfiture. Right as Anakin felt he was about to slide under the table, Ben wrapped an arm around him and commented, dryly, "I somehow doubt that Anakin will be dozing off anytime soon…I am two games up on him in grav-pool and something tells me he will likely refuse to let the situation stand."

Anakin perked up. "You've got that right!"

The Jedi Master looked over at the two boys. "Would the two of you mind overmuch if Jar Jar were to accompany you after dinner?"

Anakin fought aside a sudden strong feeling of foreboding and plastered a smile on his face. "Sure, he can come, I suppose." Even as he was saying it, he saw Ben give his Master a pleading look, which was met with a look of rebuke.

* * *

The rest of dinner passed without incident and Anakin found himself leading Ben and Jar Jar through the halls…or trying to, anyways. Anakin had quickly discovered that the Gungan had a propensity for trouble that could display itself at any given moment. Only quick thinking from Ben—Anakin didn't want to display any real sort of proficiency with the Force as he knew to do so would make the Jedi suspicious—managed to save not one, but _three_ of the Skywalker clan's antique vases, which were sitting on pedestals alongside the hallway that Jar Jar managed to bump while not paying attention.

Upon entering the arcade, Anakin pulled a stool over to the grav-pool table and pointed at it, asking the Gungan to just sit and watch. Anakin and Ben both retrieved their cue sticks and resumed their game; it was Ben's turn. As Ben took aim, he commented offhandedly, "Oh, by the way, I spoke with my Master at the end of dinner about your dreams. He'd like to talk to you about them tonight or tomorrow, your choice."

Anakin shrugged nonchalantly, although inside he was petrified. _Oh, Force, help me…please don't let him figure me out because of my loose lips…_

Ben knocked in two balls before missing and Anakin lined up his shot. Right as he was about to shoot, the Gungan asked, "What yousa doin'?"

Anakin replied, tersely, "It's called grav-pool. You use these sticks to hit that white ball into one of the other balls. Before you do, you tell the other player which ball you're going to hit and which hole you're going to try to make it land in. Your goal is to then actually make it happen. Got it?"

The Gungan frowned as though in thought. Anakin called, "Nine ball in far right pocket," and proceeded to shoot. The ball was just about to fall into the pocket…

Suddenly, the Gungan jumped up and declared, "Dis'a boring!" Upon landing, he stumbled forward, hitting the table and pushing it forward, knocking all the balls out of position. Anakin and Ben both glared at the clumsy Gungan as he stood up, scratched his head, and said, simply, "Oops?"

Ben and Anakin stared at each other. "Stalemate," they said in unison, then both laughed. Anakin grabbed the Gungan's arm and said, simply, "Ben, let's go see your Master."

Ben shook his head. "Not a good idea. Master Qui-Gon said he was going to be meditating for an hour at least and we've hardly been gone fifteen minutes."

Anakin sighed. "Well, I guess we could head to my room for a while…"

Ben appeared uncertain. "Are you sure…?"

Anakin met his…companion's…eyes. "Yes. I'm positive that no one will mind that you're in my room and, between the two of us, I think that we'll be able to keep Jar Jar out of trouble."

Ben nodded and Anakin began to lead the way. Before long, however, Ben found himself becoming confused. "Uh…forgive me, but I thought you said that the arcade was in your family's wing—why are we leaving it then?"

Anakin smiled and lead the way into a narrow passageway that had obviously been renovated far more recently than its surroundings. "After spending almost a year traveling with the Senator, I fell in love with ships…so I made a special request to my uncle and father when I returned home." By this time, the boys had reached the end of the passageway, which had opened up into an old enclosed hangar bay. Three tunnels were the only ship access to the hangar…and all tunnels were only just large enough for the ancient ship sitting in the middle of the hangar. Anakin turned to his friend and motioned toward the ship. "Isn't she beautiful?"

Ben's jaw just about hit the floor. "Your room…is a ship!?"

"Yup! The Senator's crew taught me a lot about mechanics and they told me I was a natural…so I've decided I'm going to make that old ship spaceworthy again. She's the ship that our ancestors came to Demetria on. Her name's…"

"…the _Dragon's Talon_…" Anakin looked over at Ben to see him staring at the ship in shocked wonder. "Jedi historians have wondered for the past millennium if the _Talon_ was still in existence or if it had been dismantled over the years…but, of course, none of them were about to show up uninvited to ask about it…"

Anakin laughed. "Well, you can tell them that it's all in one piece, even if it is grounded 'cause it hasn't been flown in so long. But just you wait—I'm going to fix it, and it's going to be better than it was before!"

Ben smiled down at the young boy. "I'm sure it will, Anakin, and I hope my Master and I will be able to return to see it when it's finished."

Anakin beamed and took a glance over at Jar Jar, who had walked over to the ship and was staring at it but not touching anything…yet… Anakin whispered, "Let's get over there before Jar Jar gets himself in trouble again."

The Jedi and the young Sith walked together over to the _Talon_. It was indeed a beautiful ship, plated in time-dulled chromium and shaped like an arrowhead, with a fore-facing cockpit. It had two fins attached to its aft end for stabilization and two ancient turbolasers attached to each wing. Anakin smiled as he informed Ben, "As best as I can figure, it was designed after some sort of ancient atmospheric fighter. My uncle's letting me get one of the new Class 3 hyperdrives for it if I can find one that will fit it and reinforce the hull to handle the speed. I also need to revamp the shields and the computers…especially the navicomputer. I don't want to be trying to fly around with navigational data that's a thousand years old."

At this point, the boys had reached the hatch and Anakin lowered it. Ben called to Jar Jar, who quickly came running. Ben asked, "Have you checked the integrity of the wiring?"

Anakin nodded. "Yes. Most of the wires need either reinsulated or replaced, but I figure I'll get new wires with the new components anyways so I'll worry about them once I have everything."

Ben's eyes twinkled slightly. "So, basically, you plan to completely redo the ship's electronics and computers, reinforce the hull, install a hyperdrive nearly five times as powerful as its original, increase the ship's shielding capabilities…may I ask why you don't simply purchase a new ship?"

Anakin shrugged. "I like the _Talon_'s lines. The Queen's ship is the first ship I've ever seen to even look nearly as cool as the _Talon_. Besides, it should be a galactic crime to let a ship like this just sit and gather dust."

Ben chuckled. "Indeed. And what do you plan to do with the original components?"

"Oh, I might sell them or I might donate them to a museum, haven't decided yet. All except the hyperdrive. If that still works right, I'm going to reinstall that on the ship as a backup."

"So you're going to have a ship with a Class 3 hyperdrive and a Class 15 backup. Impressive."

"Thanks." The two boys and the Gungan walked up the ramp together. Anakin looked at Jar Jar and said, pointedly, "Don't touch _anything_, okay?"

The Gungan nodded. Anakin looked at Ben and his smile returned. "Want to see the cockpit?"

Ben stared at his young companion. "Anakin, I am standing on a ship widely believed to have been wiped from existence centuries ago. I want to see it _all_. Um…would you mind if I took holos?"

Anakin laughed. "Of course not."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, the tour was concluded. Ben had been utterly fascinated by the entire ship, from the cockpit to the outdated kitchen appliances…and he had been astounded by Anakin's mechanical knowledge as the boy had pointed out several of the ship's systems and had expounded their purposes, their current state of health, and his plans for them. The Padawan and his young tour guide were returning to the parlour where they'd left Jar Jar when they heard voices. Anakin dashed ahead—and was mortified by what he saw. "Jar Jar," he cried, "I told you not to touch anything!"

The hologram of Senator Palpatine chuckled. "It's quite alright, Anakin. The young Gungan and I were simply discussing the current dilemma on Naboo."

Anakin frowned. "Do you know how long it will be until the parts arrive for the Queen's ship?"

"Oh, I'm hearing that the ship will arrive in about a week's time." The hologram shifted. "And who is your friend?"

Anakin fought the urge to visibly bristle at his Master's casual use of the word he had forbidden himself for two years. Ben stepped forward. "Greetings, Senator. I am Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"Ah, Padawan Kenobi. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I do hope that your stay on Demetria so far has been pleasant?"

Ben smiled. "Quite. In the past twelve hours, I have had the chance to land on a planet seen by no Jedi save Master Windu in a millennium, I have found a topic for the research project my Master wishes me to do, my Master has granted me leave to do whatever I want without having him watching over my shoulder, I have won five games of grav-pool, and I have been informed of the continued existence of the _Dragon's Talon_ and been given a tour of the ship. If we are yet to remain here for another week, I daresay I am rather excited about what else there may be for me to find here."

Palpatine chuckled then turned to Anakin once again. "Speaking of the _Talon_…how is your project coming along, Anakin?"

Anakin sighed. "The wiring is mostly shot but I figure I'd need new wiring for modern components anyways, so I'll just order wires with the components. Not having much luck finding the Class 3 hyperdrive because they're so new; I might have to settle for a Class 4. Nearly all the computers on here belong in a museum…and I might very well just send them to Coruscant with Senator Dedrick so he can find a museum that'll take them. Besides all of this, the hull definitely needs some patching and reinforcement before I even consider putting in a better hyperdrive, and the old hyperdrive already in here needs to be tested to make sure everything's in working order as far as that system goes as I figure I'll need to take the ship to a shipyard to get the hull work done."

Palpatine sighed. "Young one, did it never occur to you to simply ask _me_ to help you with this? I will contact some friends I have at Nubia Star Drives; the Theed Palace Space Vessel Engineering Corps uses a lot of components from NSD. Just tell me what you need and I'll see what they can do…but we can continue this conversation later, my young friend. I have a Senate meeting I must be attending in half an hour."

Anakin nodded to his Master. "Thank you, Senator. I will call you later tonight."

After Anakin disconnected from the call, Ben laid a hand on his shoulder. "You seem to be fairly good friends with the Senator."

"I am. We…share many common interests and he has taught me a lot."

Ben sighed. "Just be careful, alright, Ani? I'd hate to see you hurt."

"I know. My sister's already given me the '_please Ani don't become a politician!_' speech."

Ben laughed. "Something tells me that your sister and I are going to get along quite well."

Anakin smiled broadly. "Well, if you and Master Jinn will be staying here for a week, you'll be here for our birthday party! Nalini and I are turning ten in three days."

"Oh, really? That is actually excellent; the Queen has been absolutely distraught about the delay as I understand it and perhaps a party may be enough to take her mind off of things for at least that night."

Anakin suddenly had an idea. "Ben, why don't I have Uncle ask the Queen if she'd like to help plan the party? That'd keep her occupied for a few days instead of just one night!"

Ben rewarded the boy with a surprised look. "Ani, that is a wonderful idea! In fact, I'm rather surprised I didn't come up with it. Shall we go see if we can find your uncle? I'd imagine that, by the time we locate him and share your idea with him, Master Qui-Gon's meditation will be over."

Anakin quickly turned and dashed for the hatch. "Alright!" he cried in childish exuberance. _Maybe Uncle will let us be the ones to give the idea to the Queen…and I'll get to see Padmé again! And this'll also give me a chance to work out my thoughts on what I'm going to say to Ben's Master if he turns out being suspicious about me…_

Obi-Wan sighed and called out for Jar Jar to follow him. _Quite an intelligent boy, this one is, and when he lets himself relax, his Force presence is simply astounding… But why do I have the feeling that something is very off here? Demetria isn't even in Senator Palpatine's jurisdiction anymore…why would he be so willing to help the young prince with his project? And I must admit, he didn't even seem overmuch concerned regarding current events on Naboo… I must discuss all this with my Master later on._

* * *

NEXT CHAPTER: More Ani-Obi bonding and perhaps even a trifle of Ani-Padmé conversation, along with the expected (and possibly long-awaited?) conversation between Ani and Qui-Gon. Also a bit of Sithly mentoring from Palps.

Ah, I finally have completed this chapter for you all, and I expect to have the next one up in short order! To be honest, I'm not quite sure about leaving this off here, but it's been way too long since I posted something for everyone and this seems to be as good a breaking point as any.

I apologize again for the delay and I hope to have the next chapter up by midweek.


	9. The Jedi Master

**The Dreaded Yet Expected Author's Note:**

Thank you to my reviewers, to those who have added my story to alerts or favorites, and to my more anonymous readers alike. I apologize for the wait; I had a sudden flare-up of that dreadful affliction known as Writer's Block. I believe it may finally be subsiding.

Yet again, some material in this chapter will be borrowed from Terry Brooks' novelization of The Phantom Menace and from Wookieepedia. Also, I forgot to mention this at the end of the previous chapter…if you want a good idea of what the _Dragon's Talon_ looks like (at least in my mind), picture a chrome-plated F-117A Nighthawk.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars; George Lucas does. I'm just playing with his galaxy. Please don't sue. I do, however, claim a certain level of understood ownership over my original characters and locations.

* * *

Anakin walked briskly into the room where his uncle was going over some paperwork presented to him by Senator Dedrick for approval. Upon entering, he stopped and stood in the stance adopted by members of the Demetrian Army while waiting for acknowledgment of his presence. Obi-Wan walked in behind him and took note of the boy's stance: head bowed, feet at shoulder width, and his hands both behind his back with his left hand grasping his right wrist. Realizing that the way young Anakin was standing might have some significance in his culture, Obi-Wan emulated the stance quietly.

After several moments' of quiet waiting, Rurik turned and nodded at the boys. "Anakin. Padawan Kenobi."

Anakin took a deep breath. "Uncle, I'm sorry for interrupting you, but we're worried about the Queen."

Rurik didn't bother with a verbal response, opting instead to tilt his head discreetly towards his right shoulder.

Anakin recognized the unspoken "Why?" as any Demetrian would and took the unspoken query as permission to continue. "Be…Padawan Kenobi says that the Queen has been upset because of the delay in getting to Coruscant to get help for her planet. I think it might be a good idea if you and Father involved her in planning my and Nalini's birthday party. Maybe, if she's busy doing something, it'll take her mind off of everything else."

Rurik lifted an eyebrow, cocking his head right and placing his left hand on his hip…a reflection his doubt. Aloud, he said, "I will speak to the Queen and find out if she might be interested in helping with the party."

Anakin smiled, bowing his head as he blinked…a combination of motions showing both gratefulness and deference regarding his uncle's decision.

Rurik sighed and smiled slightly. "So, who is the grav-pool champion?"

Anakin rolled his eyes skyward, raising his brows and lowering his shoulders—a perhaps universal sign of frustrated annoyance. "We had to stop. It was…difficult to play with Jar Jar's presence."

Obi-Wan clarified, "The Gungan is a mite…maladroit? He accidentally fell into the table earlier and knocked the balls out of place, so we chose to call a stalemate for the time being."

"I see," Rurik said, offering the boys a half-smile and relaxing his brows, allowing his eyes to close ever so slightly. Anakin resisted the urge to sigh in relief at the fact that his uncle was displaying amusement rather than disapproval at the fact that he and Ben were teasing the Gungan. After a few more moments, Rurik concluded, "Well, I'm afraid I still have quite a bit of work to get done tonight."

Anakin replied, "Okay, Uncle. Good night."

Rurik opened his arms and Anakin stepped forward into his uncle's embrace. "Good night, young one," Rurik responded.

As Anakin left, with Obi-Wan trailing behind him, the boy couldn't help but think,_Kriff. And here I was hoping for an excuse to see Padmé…plus I still have no idea how I'm going to deal with Ben's Master!_

* * *

The boys stopped outside of the Jedi's room. Anakin fought the urge to bolt. _Get a grip!_ he scolded himself. _You're a Sith apprentice. Just keep your shields up and watch what you say and you should be just fine. If Ben's Master is anything like most of the other Jedi you've met, this meeting should be over in no time at all._

This thought in mind, Anakin took a deep breath and palmed open the door. A quick glance about the room revealed the Jedi Master standing with his hands behind his back, staring out the window at seemingly nothing. Slowly, Anakin made his way across the room to stand beside the Jedi Master. _Force, he's tall…_ Anakin thought as he craned his head upwards to see the Jedi's face.

The Jedi Master looked down and smiled at the small boy standing by his side. "Hello there," he said kindly. "I was hoping you'd come sooner rather than later."

Anakin looked down and scuffed his shoe on the tiled floor. "Obi-Wan told me that he told you about my dreams. He said you wanted to talk to me about them."

"Indeed. I'd be lying if I told you I'm not rather curious. Tell me, young one, how much do you know of the Force?"

Anakin sighed. "Enough to be able to tell someone's feelings, hide my own, and do a few little tricks."

"Little tricks?"

Anakin fought a sudden urge to go slam his head against the nearest wall until he knocked this impulse to spit out anything to Jedi he met out of his system. He then decided that the damage was already done and focused on a small vase on the windowsill. Deliberately making the feat appear difficult, he lifted the vase about 15 centimeters off the sill, held it there for several seconds, then set it back down.

The Jedi Master nodded. "Nice trick, Anakin. Tell me, how did you do that?"

Anakin now found himself fighting the urge to punch the Jedi Master in the jaw. "I look at it and tell the universe that I don't like where something's sitting and tell the universe that I want the thing to move."

Qui-Gon Jinn was now the one fighting an urge: the urge to curse long and loud. _Wonderful. Not even ten years old yet and he might as well be a Sith with that attitude…and he just has to be a Skywalker so I can't take him and retrain him before he becomes a threat to himself or someone else!_

Anakin, noticing that the Jedi's reaction wasn't exactly of a positive nature, asked, "Why, how do _you_ do it?"

Jinn relaxed the tiniest bit. _Even if I can't take him away for retraining or meddle in his family's affairs, at least I can answer any questions he has and perhaps change his views through my answers…_ "I clear my mind of all negative emotions and focus on the object in question, asking the Force to displace it for me."

Anakin grimaced inwardly. _Doesn't he realize that, if he would just take command of his emotions, he could just _tell_ the Force to do something instead of having to ask it nicely? I wonder what he'd do if the Force ever decided to say, "No, sorry, I'm not in the mood right now…"_ He replied verbally, "You just ask the Force and It does it?"

"The Force is my ally. It both guides my actions and obeys my commands."

_Ah. Obeys his commands. And how exactly does asking the Force to "pretty please move the vase for me?" translate to the Force obeying his commands?_

Jinn, realizing that he wasn't making much progress, chose to change the topic for the moment. "So, shall we speak of your dreams?"

Anakin sighed. _Might as well just get this over with._ "They come…but they don't go. They stay with me, sometimes becoming more and more detailed as time goes by and sometimes not. And they always come true."

"Oh? Can you tell me about one that came true?"

"Last year, I started having dreams that my sister's best friend's dad would die in a speeder accident. I tried to tell both my sister and her friend. They didn't believe me. Three months later, he was dead. Brea told everyone at school and now they all avoid me like I have a plague or something. My sister acts normal around me here at home but at school…well, I know to stay away from her. I know my brother has to have heard it at school…but we don't talk about my 'weirdness' here at home. Our dad and uncle don't like us talking about the Force. In fact, they don't even know that I know what it's called."

"How did you learn what it is called?"

"Jedi Vos told me on Tatooine."

"I see. How often do you get these precognitive dreams?"

"Not often. I've only had a few of them. But I can tell when something's just a nightmare and when it's a dream that might come true because nightmares go away."

"So your precognition is always of events of a negative nature?"

Anakin shook his head. "No. There's one that wasn't bad. I had it for days before you all got here. It was good."

"And what was this one about?"

Anakin sighed. _If I'd just stop feeding him information, he might let me go!_ "I dreamed of a pretty girl. We were on a balcony on some planet I've never seen before and we were getting married."

"Is the girl someone you know?"

"Not before you got here…but now I know her. It was Padmé. I'm sure of it."

Jinn frowned deeply. _I wonder if he's aware that she is actually the Queen…but no, how could he be? Her decoy—who is quite remarkable at her job and would have me fooled were it not for her Force signature—has been masquerading as the Queen the entire time we have been here._

Anakin looked away and admitted, sheepishly, "I told her that we're going to get married someday. She didn't believe me."

Jinn smiled and knelt next to the child. "Well, Anakin, you must admit, being told something like that would likely shock anyone into disbelief, especially if you're only 14 yourself."

Anakin nodded. "I kinda realized that a little too late. Now she's avoiding me. Like everyone else. Except…except Ben."

"Ben?"

"Obi-Wan. I call him Ben."

Qui-Gon chuckled. "I see. So you have given my Padawan a nickname then."

"Yes, Master Jinn. I asked him if I could and he said yes." He hesitated, then asked, "What are you going to do about me?"

Jinn flinched. "Wh-what do you mean, what I am going to do about you?"

"The first Jedi I ever met just kinda looked at me like I was the most amusing thing he'd ever seen when I tried to touch his mind. The second Jedi I ever met acted like I was a threat to the universe as we know it, and his apprentice agreed with him. The third Jedi I've ever met is Ben, and I'm still waiting for him to get bored with me and start ignoring me. Now you're the fourth Jedi I've ever met and one second you're acting like I'm dangerous and the next you're teasing me!"

Jinn sighed. "Tell me, youngling—and I know you've likely heard this question a thousand times before, so I apologize for the monotony—but what do you want to be when you're an adult?"

Anakin stared at the Jedi Master incredulously. "I-I want to be a pilot. I want to travel everywhere there is to travel. I want to have friends and not worry that they'll betray me. I want to find a way to make people all get along and stop hurting each other." He hesitated for a moment, then added quickly, "But I don't want to be a politician!"

Jinn laughed. "I can't say I blame you; politics can be quite monotonous. But pray tell, how do you hope to solve all the galaxy's problems without entering into politics?"

"I don't know. But I'll find a way. There's always a way."

"And if they only way to stop two parties from fighting is to eliminate them both?"

Anakin looked up and met the Jedi Master's eyes. "Then I will do what I must."

After that last statement, Anakin turned on his heels and left the room, leaving Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn feeling, for the first time in his 60 years of life, completely and utterly terrified…for he was certain that, for the briefest of seconds, Anakin Skywalker's eyes had transformed to the red-rimmed yellow hue of the Sith—and there was absolutely nothing he could do.

* * *

NEXT CHAPTER: The long-delayed Ani/Palps conversation and more Ani/Obi, this time with less Jar Jar…plus the twins' birthday party!

First things first, I hate the way the conversation between Ani and Qui-Gon turned out myself but I felt that this was the way it had to go. After all, this Anakin isn't a little untrained slave boy with a mother who loves him; this Anakin has watched his mother die, has siblings and peers who believe that being near him will cause the death of someone they love, has been "betrayed" and forced to murder a friend, and besides Obi-Wan (whom he has only known for a short time and whom he still expects will end up hurting him in the end as he knows that Ben will have to leave eventually and when he does he will likely never hear from him again) he has absolutely no other friends (although he'd never actually call Ben that) in his life other than his Master, who has been steeping the boy in the dark side for a couple years now.

In case anyone is wondering why the children aren't going to school right now…well, hey, we have summer vacation, so why can't Demetria?

I do hope to get the next chapter up tonight or tomorrow; I want to get through TPM so that I can finally get this story moving forward! At any rate, I have the rest of today and tomorrow to work on writing.

If anyone hasn't already, check out To Build A Lightsaber; it is a oneshot for this story telling about one event that occurred during that 7-month leap in chapter 6.


	10. Defining the Truth

**The Dreaded Yet Expected Author's Note:**

Thank you to my reviewers, to those who have added my story to alerts or favorites, and to my more anonymous readers alike.

In case anyone's wondering where Jar Jar has vanished to…well, they told him to go off and join up with the Queen and the other Naboo right before the beginning of the last chapter. I just realized that I had absolutely no Jar Jar in chapter 9 and I don't plan for him to make an appearance in this chapter either. Not that I believe an awful lot of you will miss him.

Yet again, some material in this chapter will be borrowed from Terry Brooks' novelization of The Phantom Menace and from Wookieepedia.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars; George Lucas does. I'm just playing with his galaxy. Please don't sue. I do, however, claim a certain level of understood ownership over my original characters and locations.

* * *

Obi-Wan, who had been leaning against the wall resting, was stunned silent when young Anakin suddenly stormed out of the room he was to be sharing with his Master. Without even reaching out, he could feel the maelstrom of dark emotions swirling around the boy. Instinctively, Obi-Wan asked, "Ani, what's wrong?" 

Anakin replied, angrily, "He hates me! He pretended to like me but he's just like everyone else. Uncle and Father pretend they don't see it, but I know they do. I have no friends, except maybe the Senator but he doesn't count 'cause he's old. Everyone at school avoids me because I'm weird. Even Mahaja and Nalini avoid me when they can. It's like everyone's convinced I'm some kind of time bomb that could go off at any moment and they wanna be as far from the blast as possible…"

Obi-Wan asked, carefully, "Why do you think he hates you?"

"He asked me what all I can do with the Force. So I lifted a vase for him. He asked me how I did it. I told him…and he acted like the way I do it is all bad and that only the way he does it is good! Then, when he asked about my dreams, he had me tell him one…and when the one I chose was a bad one, he asked me if all my dreams are bad. So I told him about a good one…and then he started teasing me! Then I asked him what he's gonna do about me and he changed the topic. Hello, I may be a kid, but I know when someone's avoiding a question!"

Obi-Wan took a deep breath and tried to relax but he found it impossible to do so with how cold and dark the Force felt around him. He knew, however, that to ask Anakin to either calm down or leave so that he could concentrate would destroy whatever he had built with the boy over the course of the day…and he had a feeling, deep down, that if he pushed the boy away tonight, the results would be disastrous. Trusting in the Force and his instincts, Obi-Wan commented, "You say you have no friends but the Senator…I was hoping that, after the fun we had together today, you might just consider counting me as your friend as well."

The Force itself seemed to freeze for a moment as Anakin stared at Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan met the child's eyes unflinchingly, his gaze gentle. He felt the child's probing touch on his shields and obligingly lowered them, unknowing why he was doing so but feeling that it was for the best. After nearly a minute, the boy's presence pulled away and Obi-Wan raised his shields back to their normal levels.

The question that Anakin asked next nearly floored him. "Ben, if I decided to let you be my friend, would you stand beside me, no matter what? Even if someday I ended up being a…Sith, I think Jedi Vos called them?"

After regaining his senses, Obi-Wan replied, "Anakin, the Sith and the Jedi are natural enemies…but yes, even if you ended up a Sith, I would still be your friend. That is, until your Sithliness decided to kill me, as the Sith do all Jedi."

Anakin frowned. "I'm not exactly sure what Sith are—Jedi Vos only told me the word, he didn't exactly explain to me what it meant; he just said that he didn't want a Dark Jedi or a Sith running around, so I guess that Jedi don't like Sith much—but I promise you, even if I did become a Sith somehow, you'd be a Jedi I'd never hurt. 'Cause you've been nice to me. You even treat me like a normal person, and no one treats me normal 'round here anymore."

Obi-Wan smiled and held out his hand. "Friends, then?"

Anakin looked up into the Padawan's smiling face and slowly reached forward, placing his hand in the Jedi's and clasping it. "Yes. Friends."

Obi-Wan knelt down, simultaneously using the hand that Anakin had placed in his own to pull the boy to him and then he met the child's azure eyes. "Tell me, Ani, why is it that everyone treats you differently?"

Anakin looked away. "Because of my dreams. I had a bad dream last year that my sister's friend's dad would die in a speeder accident so I told my sister and her friend about it. I hoped that maybe, if I told people about it, it wouldn't happen. But no one believed me. And then…then it happened. And now people act like, if they get close to me, something bad will happen to their families too."

His Master's voice through their bond caused Obi-Wan to pause. "I'm very sorry to hear that, Anakin, and I regret that your peers have cast you out because of your gift. They should value the fact that you are able to inform them when their families and friends may only have a short time to live. It is a rare and valuable thing to know when and how you are going to die and to be able to make certain that you have everything in order for when that day comes…and to have the chance to try to avoid your fate if it is possible. I also feel regret for the fact that you must see these things, both positive and negative, and yet be forced to be alone in both the happiness and the tears. If it helps at all, remember this: the future is always in motion. Any one change in the events leading up to a foreseen future can cause the course of the future to deviate, for better or for worse." He then sighed. "Unfortunately, Anakin, my Master is telling me that I am overdue for our nightly meditation, so I must go. Perhaps we can resume our grav-pool tournament tomorrow?"

Anakin nodded and smiled. "That sounds great…my friend."

Obi-Wan reached out and ruffled the boy's hair, leading to the child taking a step back and throwing his arms over his head protectively, a half-scowl half-smile on his face. Obi-Wan chuckled and stood. "Good night, youngling."

"Good night, Ben," Anakin replied.

* * *

Once back in the _Talon_, Anakin immediately made his way over to his holoprojector and commed his Master, falling to one knee as his Master's form materialized before him. Sidious, pleased to see that his apprentice had remembered to properly prostrate himself, said, "You may rise, my young apprentice. Would you care to explain what happened earlier?" 

Anakin replied, quietly, "I apologize for what happened, my Master. As you know, Jedi Vos decided to accept the offer I gave him to shelter Jedi in need and sent two Jedi here to Demetria, as well as the young Queen of Naboo and her entourage. While my father and uncle went to discuss security stuff with the elder Jedi, the Queen, and her chief of security, I was asked to give the younger Jedi and the rest of the group a tour of the palace, which I did. After the tour, I decided to try to keep the younger Jedi close to me so that I could learn a bit more about him and his Order. I learned a lot; Kenobi liked my questions and was happy to answer them. During dinner, the elder Jedi asked Kenobi and myself to watch the Gungan…but we ended up not being able to keep him out of trouble, so I decided to bring both the Gungan and Kenobi to the _Talon_ where I hoped that the smaller space would help me keep the Gungan from becoming more of a pest…and well, that plan didn't exactly work as well as I'd hoped."

Sidious nodded. "And since then…?"

"I have learned more about Kenobi and have had a meeting with his Master, Jinn. I have concluded that the Jedi are very…misguided about many things. Master, can you believe that the Jedi Master told me that he actually levitates things by _asking_ the Force to do it…and equates that with having the Force obey his commands?"

Sidious chuckled. "Yes, my young apprentice, that is a typical Jedi sentiment. The Jedi do not know what true command is, for they are taught to give all of themselves while asking for naught in return. In fact, they actually seem to believe that, if they demonstrate altruism to the galaxy as a whole—even to criminals—that the people of the galaxy will follow their example. The Jedi simply are not capable of understanding that people in general are not altruists and view altruism with a sense of contempt: they have no intention of doing something for nothing and cannot understand anyone who would. The galaxy needs saved from itself, my apprentice, and the only way to save it is to reward people for doing acts to better the galaxy, not to tell them that the warm fuzzy feeling they get inside is reward enough."

"How would we reward them, my Master?"

"With power, prestige, and wealth, my young apprentice. People are, by nature, greedy. Offer a man enough money to last a lifetime and he will hunt a bounty that will in all likelihood kill him before he even sees the first credit. Offer a man enough prestige and he'll do anything for you. This is the way of things…and the Jedi simply cannot understand this."

"Back on Tatooine, Jedi Vos spoke to me of Dark Jedi."

"Ah, yes. Dark Jedi. Dark Jedi are those Jedi who finally realize even a speck of the truth I have just spoken to you and try to impart this truth to their brethren. Ultimately, the Jedi Order has only two responses to this. First, they will attempt to reprogram their brother or sister until he or she renounces his or her words. Second, if this fails, they will cast the man or woman who has been enlightened out into the galaxy, blacklisting him or her as 'Fallen' and shunning him or her. You see, the Jedi don't want to accept the truth. They don't want to accept that their cause is hopeless, so they push away anyone who would tell them so and who would suggest that they use their abilities for the personal gain that would earn them respect in the galaxy…that would earn them the power that would allow them to actually enact _change_. That, my apprentice, is the ultimate goal of the Sith: to accumulate enough power that we are able to take charge of the galaxy, shaping it to make it better, to _save it from itself_. Unless we are able to do something—and we are the only ones with both the power and the willingness to use that power the way it must be used—the galaxy will eventually self-destruct, falling into anarchy."

Anakin nodded, "Thank you, my Master. I understand now."

Sidious smiled. "Very good, my apprentice. Now, retrieve your lightsaber, activate three of your remotes, and take the opening stance of the Shien…"

* * *

The next morning, Anakin headed up to the banquet hall for breakfast. A quick glance with both his eyes and the Force revealed that the only others in the room so far were his brother and sister. Not thrilled with the prospect of being alone with his siblings—a situation which he'd tended to avoid as much as possible over the last year—he furtively reached out with his Force senses, trying to locate someone—_anyone_—else who might be on their way to the banquet hall. Finding no one nearby and knowing that he couldn't hide in the corridor forever, he took a deep breath and entered the room. 

Mahaja and Nalini immediately turned to face him. Anakin couldn't help but notice that neither of his siblings met his eyes; the closest he got to a greeting was Nalini speaking his name in a subdued tone.

Anakin knew from experience that his brother and sister unfailingly gave more polite greetings to the family's servants. He found himself wondering idly why he was even surprised anymore; their refusal to even meet his eyes when their elders weren't present made it clear that, at least in the eyes of his siblings, he was no longer seen as a member of the family.

With a sudden spike of anger, Anakin reflected that he wished that his Master would just formally take him as his apprentice already and grant him his Sith moniker so that he could renounce his Skywalker name as his brother and sister so obviously wished he would.

He came out of his dark musings as he felt the bright presence of Ben finally arriving. Anakin was about to run over and greet his friend, who had entered through the doors on the far side of the room, but Nalini and Mahaja arrived first, apparently on their way out of the room. Before leaving, Mahaja turned to Ben and said, simply, "Be on your guard, Padawan Kenobi, if you value the lives of those close to you."

Realizing what the boy was speaking of, Obi-Wan quickly snaked his arm out and grabbed the fourteen-year-old by the wrist. "Explain," the Padawan said simply, his tone brooking no arguments.

Mahaja snarled, "My sister let him get close to her friend Brea…and Brea's dad died. And Anakin could tell us exactly when and how it was going to happen, like he'd planned it all himself! Father and Uncle can say what they want, but you can't convince us that he's completely innocent in Mr. Fallon's death."

Obi-Wan stared at the boy in disbelief. "Stars and galaxies, child, how can you so bluntly accuse your brother of murder!?"

Mahaja glared at the Padawan. "Over a year ago, my brother left with the Naboo senator on some sort of educational expedition…and as far as my sister and I are concerned, our brother never returned. That _creature_ might look the same as our brother, and sound like our brother, and even possess our brother's memories…but he is _not_ our brother."

With that, Mahaja yanked his arm free of the stunned Padawan's grip and left the room with his sister right behind him.

Obi-Wan quietly walked over to Anakin. "Do you have any idea why he'd say that, Ani?"

Anakin knew exactly why. Despite his best efforts, he had changed on that voyage with his Master. He had left an innocent boy who wanted nothing more than to see the galaxy and to learn all his Master could teach him…and he'd returned with blood staining his hands. He knew he couldn't tell Ben this, however, so he instead replied, "I saw a lot while traveling with the senator…and most of it was bad. And I guess I finally figured out that bad stuff always happens to good people. It…it kinda made me grow up, I guess."

"I see," Obi-Wan replied simply. He then wrapped his arm around his young friend and said, quietly, "Let's get some breakfast. We can discuss later how to deal with this."

Anakin frowned. "What do you mean, 'how to deal with this'?"

Obi-Wan sighed. "This can't be allowed to go unchecked, Anakin. You don't need to be present when I do so…but I must inform my Master and your guardians of your brother's accusations so that they can correct his views. It is one thing for him to choose not to believe your visions. It is quite another to accuse you of being the one to bring about the events you saw…especially since, as heir apparent, your brother will someday have the power to enact what he will undoubtedly at that point see as due vengeance if he is not put right."

* * *

After breakfast, Anakin headed back to the _Talon_ while Obi-Wan set out on his mission. The Padawan found King Rurik and his brother in a side room with Queen Amidala and two of her handmaidens. A quick glance around told Obi-Wan that the lot of them were working on the plans for the twins' birthday party…_not that Nalini would like it much if she heard me referring to Anakin as her twin._

Rurik looked up as the Padawan entered and knew immediately that something was wrong. "Padawan Kenobi…?"

Obi-Wan bowed his head respectfully and said, concisely, "Your Majesty, I have been speaking with Prince Mahaja and I feel that his words should be brought to your attention."

"Oh? Please don't tell me that he is jealous of the twins' birthday; he has his own in two months' time."

"I'm afraid that this is actually far more serious than petty jealousy…and I also fear that his sentiments are shared by Princess Nalini."

"Then please, by all means, tell me."

Obi-Wan took a deep breath. He then said, simply, "I know that the two of you are aware that your three children are Force-sensitive. The Force has been granting visions to Anakin in the form of both pleasant dreams and nightmares. Has he told you anything about this?"

Alaric stepped forward, his glare sharp and cold as ice. "No, he has not. Why would this concern you, Jedi?"

Obi-Wan replied, forcing himself to maintain his calm, "Because last night Anakin informed me that he considers me as a friend…and as a friend, I am concerned about the consequences of one of his visions in particular."

Alaric's icy glare transmogrified immediately to a look of shock. "He…he called you his friend? He hasn't used that word since…"

"Since his little trip with the senator? I believe that something traumatic happened while he was on that voyage and that a great deal would be revealed if he were willing to speak of it…but I digress."

"Very well. Explain your concern."

"Anakin witnessed the death of Brea Fallon's father."

"What!? How? He was here that entire day! He'd caught Rurik and me fencing early that morning and asked us to teach him…he was with us when we received word…"

"He was not there to witness the actual event…but he had a vision telling him that Mr. Fallon was going to die from that accident, possibly weeks if not months before it happened. He informed his brother and sister when he had the vision in hopes that they might be able to find a way to keep it from coming to pass. His siblings refused to believe him."

At this point, Rurik and Alaric were both forced to sit down. Their glazed looks of shock seemed to be penetrating Obi-Wan's very soul. Finally, Rurik whispered, "Our clan does not remember much of the Force, Padawan Kenobi, but we have retained enough knowledge to know how to recognize a truth from a lie, and the Force tells us that your words are honest. Please, continue."

Obi-Wan sighed. "From what I can tell, at least Mahaja if not Nalini are now convinced that Anakin had some level of culpability in Mr. Fallon's death due to his foreknowledge of what was going to happen to him. Around others, they pretend that nothing is wrong, but when I entered the banquet hall this morning, Mahaja confronted me and informed me, for all intents and purposes, that Anakin is a threat to all who associate with him and that, unless I wish to see the death of someone I hold dear, I should remove myself from any relations I have with him. He also informed me that he sees Anakin as an imposter; that in his eyes, his younger brother never returned from his voyage with the senator. In correlation with this, I would like to add that Anakin revealed to my Master last night that he has been outcast by his peers due to the fear his classmates possess in regards to Anakin's precognitive abilities."

After several minutes of silence, Rurik asked, "Have you informed your Master of this?"

"Not yet, Your Majesty. I felt that, as Anakin's relatives and guardians, it was necessary that I bring this information to you immediately once I realized the scope of the problem. In my eyes, this quandary is for your family to solve…and knowing your clan, I believe you'd prefer Jedi involvement be kept to a minimum."

"Are you not required to discuss this with your Master anyways?" came the query from the young woman that Obi-Wan knew to be the handmaiden Sabé, despite her current appearance as the Queen of Naboo.

Obi-Wan deferred to the decoy, knowing that it was imperative that he continue to pretend to be none the wiser to the switch. "In typical circumstances, the answer would be yes, Your Highness…but when Master Windu first came to Demetria those few years ago, he made an oath to the Skywalkers that the Jedi would stay out of their family's affairs. As such, it is King Rurik's choice as to whether or not I may bring my Master into this."

After another pause, Rurik answered, "Padawan Kenobi, you have my permission to tell your Master anything which you may have heard from any of the children regarding this dilemma. I do not wish your Council's oath to force you to keep secrets from your Master; if it weren't for secrets, this problem would never have come about. As it stands, it has been a year since Mr. Fallon's death, and therefore it may indeed be far too late to fix this now. We do not wish to distract either of you from your current assignment but any assistance you and your Master can offer us in this situation would be greatly appreciated."

* * *

NEXT CHAPTER: Some Jedi problem solving and (maybe?) the party. 

Yes, I know, I said the party would come in this chapter…but my muse refused to go there after the way that Qui-Gon and Anakin's conversation turned out. With any luck, we'll be partying by the end of the next chapter!

With the ice storm this weekend, who knows, I might even get another chapter up today or tomorrow! For now, however, I hope you all enjoy the chapter!


	11. Disturbing Revelations

**The Dreaded Yet Expected Author's Note:**

Thank you to my reviewers, to those who have added my story to alerts or favorites, and to my more anonymous readers alike.

Yes, I know, this update took me forever. First we lost the internet from the storm. Then we lost the power from the storm. Then my muse decided to fly south with the geese. We got power back first…then the internet…and now one of my traps have finally snared my muse and brought its attention back to Sith'ari.

So now, without further ado, here's chapter 11!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars; George Lucas does. I'm just playing with his galaxy. Please don't sue. I do, however, claim a certain level of understood ownership over my original characters and locations.

* * *

After informing his Master of what he had learned about the relationship between the three young Skywalkers and his breakthrough with Anakin, Obi-Wan found himself shadowing Qui-Gon as the older Jedi sought out Rurik and Alaric. Qui-Gon had expressed a great deal of surprise at his Padawan's news, as Anakin had led him to believe that his brother and sister typically treated him normally at home—then again, being the royal family, how often would the children usually have guests other than their schoolmates, all of whom already avoided Anakin? 

They found the King and his brother still in the same side room as before, only this time no one else was present. Upon asking, the Jedi learned that the Queen and her entourage had chosen to take a lunch break while the two Demetrians discussed what they had just learned about their children.

Rurik asked, quietly, "Is there anything you have to add to your Padawan's observations, Master Jedi?"

"Yes. As my Padawan and Anakin may or may not have told you, when Anakin's visions were first brought to my attention, I invited the young prince to come discuss them with me. What I learned during our meeting was…disturbing." Qui-Gon took a deep breath before continuing. "Anakin has somehow discovered how to touch the Force actively and he has been training himself in its use. He knows basic telekinesis and how to sense the presence of others, as well as being able to hide his own presence from detection. I believe there may be other skills that he has been training himself in as well but those are the only ones he has demonstrated to us."

Rurik and Alaric stared at each other, alarmed. Finally, Alaric managed to reply, "How is that possible? Discussion of the Force in this household is forbidden and the people of Demetria know nothing of it—there are no materials regarding the Force or its uses anywhere on the planet; our clan made certain of that after the Dark One died."

Qui-Gon returned, "Your children all have HoloNet access here in your home. Anakin may have stumbled upon information on there."

Alaric and Rurik frowned. Rurik spoke after a moment of silence. "We have programs on all the access points in the palace that track what is viewed on any of them. If any of the children were trying to research the Force over the HoloNet, we would know about it."

Remembering the holoprojector he had seen on the _Talon_, Obi-Wan asked quietly, "Do you track the children's communications?"

Rurik and Alaric shifted uncomfortably. Alaric finally answered, "Yes. We have noticed in the past that Anakin has very few if any friends on Demetria; nearly every time he uses his comm. is to contact Senator Palpatine. The senator has been giving Anakin ideas for his reconditioning of the _Dragon's Talon_, and we believe that the senator has also been tutoring him in a few of his classes. We do not track the contents of the children's conversations; we have never had any need to do so."

Silence reigned the room for a full minute. After this, Qui-Gon said, simply, "It is not completely unheard of for a child strong in the Force to discover their connection to it, especially if exposed to a trained Force-user that they can attempt to emulate. According to Knight Vos, at the time he met Anakin on Tatooine, the boy was already demonstrating ability in using the Force to touch the minds of others and to shield his own—Vos told me that it had been a traumatic event that triggered the boy's first subconscious use of this ability and that Anakin had apparently subsequently figured out how to exercise it consciously."

Alaric froze and the two Jedi suddenly found their senses bombarded with feelings of sorrow and distress. They waited patiently for Alaric to explain. Finally, the man began to speak. "When…when the twins were four…burglars came to the house. It was when the drought had started and the economy had first plummeted. At the time, I was living in hiding with my wife and the children. When the alarms went, we dashed to the shop—I was a mechanic—and we found the burglars in there. Shmi and I did our best to try to force them out of the house. We'd taught the children to always hide under the bed if the alarms were going off…but for some odd reason, suddenly Anakin showed up in the shop's entrance with his sister and brother appearing right behind him. Mere seconds after their appearance"—Alaric paused to take a deep breath—"Shmi was killed."

This time, it was the two Jedi who had to take a seat. "Dear Force," Qui-Gon whispered. After absorbing the information they'd just been given, Qui-Gon asked, "Were they ever captured?"

"No. They burned the house as they fled. All of the surveillance holos were destroyed in the blaze. I doubt the authorities will ever figure out who the culprits were."

Silence blanketed the room yet again. Qui-Gon finally murmured, "In a situation where you are in unknown danger—such as in the case of a burglary—I would imagine that both you and your wife were emitting all sorts of powerful emotions that could easily have been picked up by any Force-sensitive in the area…I wonder if Anakin was the only one to sense your emotions, or if the other two children felt something as well?" Taking a deep breath, Qui-Gon met Alaric's eyes and said, simply, "I would like to request permission to take midi-chlorian counts on all of your children. It strikes me as exceptionally odd that Anakin has managed to awaken his latent abilities with no outside help while his siblings—especially his _twin_—remain blissfully ignorant of the Force."

Rurik took over. "And you believe that it may have something to do with the children's counts?"

"Yes."

Rurik and Alaric looked at each other for several seconds with neither speaking a word; Qui-Gon noted, however, that both men's expressions, postures, and hands seemed to be moving in a fashion that suggested a very animated conversation. Finally, Alaric nodded, placing two fingers of his left hand—the index and middle, the Jedi Master noted—on his right wrist. Truth be told, Qui-Gon had noted that the Skywalkers seemed to get as much done with as few words as possible, and he had made special note of all the instances in which two or more members of the Skywalker clan would seem to have a complete conversation without a single vocalization…had he not known better, Qui-Gon would have suspected telepathy, but he could feel that neither of the two men had touched the Force at any time during their exchange.

When Alaric and Rurik turned back to him, it was Alaric who spoke. "Very well. You may take the children's counts. They have yet to receive the required vaccinations and blood tests for the upcoming school year anyways; we shall make a special request for a bit of each of their blood samples to be held for the two of you."

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan both bowed. "Thank you," Qui-Gon said. "We will let you know what we discover and all of us can go from there."

* * *

Upon leaving the room, Master and Padawan went their separate ways. While Qui-Gon headed to their room to meditate, Obi-Wan headed for Anakin, promising his Master that he would either return to their room at a decent hour or be exceptionally quiet upon entering if he did not. 

Obi-Wan was a bit surprised to find Padmé in the hangar with Anakin, along with the astromech R2-D2. When Anakin spotted him, he cried, "Ben! Look what Padmé's letting me borrow! It's a real astromech droid!"

Obi-Wan chuckled. "That it is. That little droid saved our lives while we were fleeing Naboo."

"What!? You gotta tell me about that!"

Half an hour later, Anakin was staring at the Padawan and the handmaiden in shock. "So, after running a blockade in a ship with no weapons and shields that had to be fixed by droids 'cause they failed while dodging fighters that were shooting off the droids, you find out that the hyperdrive is leaking so you get stuck stopping on Tatooine where you find Jedi Vos, who told you to come here."

Padmé smiled. "That sums it up quite nicely."

Anakin laughed. "Wow. Are all Jedi missions like that?"

Obi-Wan couldn't help himself but to laugh. "Actually, Ani, when we first received our assignment to this mission, our purpose was to be present as mediators while the Naboo and the Trade Federation negotiated an ending to the blockade."

Anakin frowned. "You didn't say anything about negotiations…"

Obi-Wan shrugged. "That's because the Federation decided to just skip that step and try to kill us off right away."

"Well, at least they didn't waste your time or anything…"

Smiling, the Padawan replied, "Yes; if nothing else, Master Qui-Gon was right regarding the fact that the negotiations would be short."

Anakin took a breath then commented, "Speaking of Master Qui-Gon…"

At this, Padmé stood. "I'm sorry but I must be going; I am due back with the Queen."

Anakin appeared a bit downcast at the handmaiden's announcement; Obi-Wan understood that the disguised Queen was uncomfortable being present for this discussion and was simply taking the most convenient excuse to leave. "Of course, milady. I am sorry to see you go but I understand. Send the Queen my regards and please inform her that my Master is currently indisposed; if she needs me, I will likely be here for the majority of the remainder of the evening."

Padmé nodded and bowed slightly. "Of course." She then departed.

Obi-Wan returned his full attention to Anakin. "I apologize, Anakin. I tried to keep Master Qui-Gon out of this…but your father and uncle insisted. I did not realize until too late that my Master intended to bring everything to light. Your father and uncle now know that you have been training yourself in the ways of the Force."

The hurt in the boy's eyes was nothing compared to the feelings of betrayal radiating from him. Realizing belatedly that Anakin was not a Jedi youngling and that bluntness had probably not been the best course of action, Obi-Wan found himself kneeling on the floor before his friend, staggered by the rush of powerful emotions he felt coming from such a small child. "I'm sorry, Anakin. If it's any consolation, they were not angry when we left, only upset."

Anakin frowned and closed his eyes. After a moment, he replied, "I…I think you're right…but why wouldn't they be mad?"

The young Sith quickly—and only half-consciously—turned his senses to Ben. He belatedly remembered that Ben was Jedi and therefore would be able to block his probe…and was pleasantly surprised when he realized that Ben had actually lowered his shields slightly and wasn't fighting him. Now certain that Ben's apology was sincere and that he honestly had not known his Master's intentions, Anakin whispered, "It's okay, Ben. I shoulda known better than to try and figure out the Force under their noses and not expect to be found out sometime."

"If I may ask…why?"

Anakin sat down in front of Ben and his friend copied him, moving out of the kneeling position that Anakin knew from experience became very uncomfortable after a few minutes. Quickly pushing out all thoughts of how strangely happy he had been to have a Jedi prostrating before him and reminding himself that the Jedi in question was his friend—the only friend he possessed besides his Master, who didn't count for obvious reasons—Anakin replied, "The night my mom died—I'm guessing my father and uncle told you about it?" At Ben's nod, Anakin continued, "Well, that was the first time I ever really realized that I could feel other people's feelings. I felt that my mom and dad were scared to death. I hated feeling their fear and not being able to do anything about it. So I decided, after that night, that I was gonna figure out how it was that I could feel what other people were feeling so that I could learn how to turn it _off_. But after I finally found the "off" switch…I realized that it was just as easy to turn it back on when I needed it and I eventually figured out that, with practice, I could focus on exactly whose feelings I wanted to know."

"And telekinesis? When did you learn that?"

Quickly willing himself not to visibly freeze and to come up with a situation in which he might have learned telekinesis on his own—after all, that was one of the skills that his Master had actually introduced him to—Anakin recalled one of his practices of the skill and threw as much strength as he could muster behind the words while skillfully hiding the half-lie. "It was early in my trip with the senator. I woke up in the middle of the night and had to use the 'fresher…but I couldn't find the light switch. I was still half-asleep and, well, my mind kinda wasn't placing that light switches aren't sentient beings. I reached out like I was looking for one of my family members—I kinda figured out that skill while figuring out the whole on/off thing with the sensing of feelings—and when I found the switch, it was on the other side of the cabin! So I just kinda imagined that I was there and flipping it on…and it worked. I just kinda figured it out from there," he finished, carefully watching his friend to see whether or not his lie had been believed.

Ben frowned and for a moment Anakin was concerned…but all the Padawan asked was, "You just imagined flipping it on? You didn't question your sanity while doing this despite having no knowledge whatsoever that it actually would work?"

Anakin shrugged. "I was _half-asleep_, Ben. When you're half-asleep, you don't question much. All I knew was that I could feel the switch and that it was as if I was already touching it with my senses…so since I wasn't exactly thinking about anything, I just kinda figured that if I was touching it with my senses, maybe my senses could actually…well…_touch_ it." He smiled wryly. "Besides, I'm very lazy when I first wake up."

Ben laughed at this and commented, "So you taught yourself telekinesis so you didn't have to actually get up and turn on the light switch? I know, I know, you were still half-asleep, but did it not occur to you that, if the cabin was so messy that you needed the lights on to navigate, that you could use the same sensory skill you were using to find the light switch to find your way around any obstacles?"

Anakin blushed three shades of crimson and finally stuttered, "Well, um…no…I never thought of that… Hey, stop laughing! Ain't _my_ fault I was born a Skywalker!"

Ben forced himself to stop laughing and wrapped an arm around his young friend. "No, it's not, and it's a shame that you and your siblings are not given a choice regarding whether or not you wish to be trained." He turned his head and Anakin looked up and met his eyes. "Chances are that your guardians are going to ask you to stop exploring the Force…but that does not mean that you unlearn what you have discovered already. Therefore, take two tips from me. Firstly, if your living space is so messy that you need the Force to walk around, you should probably clean it. Until you have a chance to do so, don't telekinetically switch on the lights, as that sort of obvious Force-use is going to anger your guardians. Just use the Force to navigate. Second…I don't care how lazy you are in the mornings,_never_ try to use the Force to cook breakfast."

Now it was Anakin's turn to laugh. "And exactly how do you know that?"

Ben smiled self-deprecatingly. "Don't ask how I know, Ani…just trust me. It isn't a good idea."

* * *

NEXT CHAPTER: The party. I promise. Among other things. 

Forgive me for the long delay but I fell on my right wrist on Christmas Day and jammed it up pretty good, so I was fully unable to type for the first two days after that and even now it hurts pretty bad. Fortunately for the lot of you, my hours at work have changed and therefore I now possess a bit more writing time.

Please review if you can; if not, I understand.


	12. Sabres and Shunning

**The Dreaded Yet Expected Author's Note:**

Thank you to my reviewers, to those who have added my story to alerts or favorites, and to my more anonymous readers alike.

Yet again, updating has taken me forever. For those interested, here is my explanation. For those who couldn't care less, skip this paragraph. Well, in the past, I have actually gotten most of my writing done at work, as I am typically just sitting bored in between customers. Therefore, when I was granted the 8-7 shift, I believed I would get a lot more writing done. As is obvious, that was not the case. I instead ended up being asked to train our service writers to cashier their own tickets and then was transferred to a different department, and I have spent the last couple weeks getting accustomed to my new job duties. As I will potentially actually have _work_ to do in this new position, my writing time is now limited to when my new supervisors don't have anything for me to do (plus a few of my old job duties carried over as they don't have anyone else willing to do the filing and whatnot and don't want to hire a part-timer to come in and do those things). In addition, the computer at my new position leaves much to be desired; it is so filled with junk from my predecessor that I can hardly make it function…and I can't clean it out without administrator access (which I don't have)!

Well, now that my rant is over…enjoy chapter 12.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars; George Lucas does. I'm just playing with his galaxy. Please don't sue. I do, however, claim a certain level of understood ownership over my original characters and locations.

* * *

After helping Anakin with the _Talon_ until nearly midnight, Obi-Wan departed, leaving Anakin alone. Exhausted after all of the events of the day, Anakin wasted no time changing into sleep clothes and heading to bed. 

That night, the child once again dreamed of Padmé…but this time it was different. Instead of the slightly older version of the girl who he would see himself marrying, the Padmé in this dream was the same teenaged girl he saw running around the palace…but dressed for battle, blaster in hand, and followed by an army of humanoids, although their faces were hidden so he could not tell if the army was truly Human or not…

Anakin awakened at dawn, feeling a strange sensation through the Force. He quickly discerned that it wasn't dangerous, just…different. Hopping out of bed, Anakin cleaned up in the _Talon_'s refresher (his uncle and father had allowed him to fix that first as long as he also repaired the old hangar's systems to flush out the ship's septic system from time to time) and dressed quickly, determined to discover the source of this odd sensation. Walking out of the old hangar, he used the Force as a homing device, reaching out…_There!_

Anakin broke out in a run and was surprised to find himself in his family's training salle (his father and uncle were both fascinated by the martial arts and had designed this room so that they could practice different techniques), watching the Jedi Master spar with his Padawan. Yet this was quite different from the sparring sessions he had had with his own Master. When Sidious had sparred with him, not only did he have his Master's 'saber to worry about, but he would also need to be constantly wary as objects sitting around the room could easily become projectiles needing deflection, a wave of his Master's hand could become a debilitating streak of lightning, and a sudden shift in his Master's eyes could translate into a mental barrage that could leave him lying on the floor moaning if his shields were not up tightly. Not only that, but with Sith sparred, their emotions would be wild, filling the room with aggressive rage as both fought for the upper hand—and the fight did not end until one of the combatants was pinned and as good as dead. Anakin had yet to ever defeat his Master; he knew that, the day he did, it would be his duty to the Sith Order to end his Master's life and take his place.

The Jedi apparently had a very different view of sparring. As Anakin studied them, both with his eyes and the Force, he realized that they were both completely calm, releasing any emotions to the Force the instant they appeared. They moved with grace, the Master occasionally breaking the silence to correct his Padawan. _Force, if I made a mistake while dueling _my_ Master, that would be the end of the session…and then he'd have me work until I collapsed afterwards!_ It took Anakin a few moments to recognize the form the Jedi were both using as Ataru, as neither was using the form's more acrobatic maneuvers at the moment. _Hmm. Perhaps a bit of the Shii-Cho in there too considering how grounded they're staying. Weird._

Anakin sat down in the entranceway to watch them. It was odd, watching a lightsaber duel from the third person perspective, especially one where neither opponent seemed to actually desire to defeat the other. Despite Ben's age, it was apparent to Anakin at this moment that Qui-Gon still very much saw Ben as a student, and he wondered when the Master would allow his Padawan to take the Jedi's so-called Trials…_which, if the Jedi define a trial anything like they define sparring, are probably so easy _I_ could pass 'em…and I'm still just a kid!_

Anakin stared as the Jedi's match came to an end, the opponents deactivating their 'sabers with nothing but a couple trickles of sweat betraying that they had been doing anything. Walking over, the Master asked him, "Did you like that, Anakin?"

"Yeah!" Anakin replied, realizing almost too late that his only experience with sword-fighting should be watching his uncle and father fence and the lessons they had given him in the past year. "That looked much more fun than the stuff my father and uncle have been teaching me."

Smiling, the Jedi Master asked, "Would you like to show us what you know?"

Cursing mentally as he realized he had just walked into _another_ of the Jedi Master's traps, he frowned. "I would, but they keep the equipment locked up."

Shrugging, Ben replied, "Why don't we go ask them if they'll unlock it for us? It's been a long time since I sparred with an actual sword instead of a lightsaber and I think it might be fun to see how good you are."

Realizing that not only did he not have a reason why they shouldn't ask, but that he was actually quite curious to spar with Ben himself, Anakin relented. "Um…since you both already know anyways…mind if I track them down with the Force?"

Master and Padawan looked at each other and shrugged, so Anakin quickly reached out with the Force, finding his father almost immediately in his study. When he pulled back and looked up at the Jedi, he noticed that the Master's face seemed a bit ashen. He asked, simply, "Is something wrong, Master Jinn?"

"No, Anakin, nothing's wrong," the Jedi Master replied, a bit too quickly. Anakin chose to let this go for the moment, not wanting the Master's ire raised when he was being so relatively agreeable this morning.

Arriving at his father's study, Anakin entered hesitantly, quietly asking, "Father, are you busy?"

Alaric's response was distracted and sad. "No, I am not. What is it?"

"Um…Master Jinn and Padawan Kenobi were wondering if you would unlock the equipment lockers…"

Anakin waited patiently as his father finished up whatever he was doing. When Alaric stood and turned to him, the boy couldn't help but take a small step back at the look in his father's eyes—the last time he had seen his father's eyes take on this expression had been when the family had buried Shmi. He reached out carefully to touch his father's mind, to find out what had distressed him so profoundly…and when he found the reason for his father's anguish, he felt as though he was on a ship that had suddenly been exposed to vacuum.

Alaric replied, "Of course." He then walked past Anakin, leaving the room without another word.

Head bowed, Anakin followed his father out of the room only to find his shoulder grasped by the large hand of the Jedi Master. "I sense that something is wrong."

Anakin raised his head to meet the Master's eyes. "It is. In my family, learning about the Force is forbidden. I knew this, yet I still chose to explore it, on purpose or not. They cannot push me out because they would have to explain why…but as far as my family is concerned, I am now dead." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he felt the Jedi Master recoil away from him. "I do not regret my actions, Master Jinn. I accept my family's judgment, even if I disagree with them about the fact that we're not even given a choice whether to learn about the Force or not. Don't feel bad for me; I've already learned to live with my siblings pushing me away, and I will survive having my father and uncle doing the same."

Jinn knelt before the boy and said, quietly, "Yet I still owe you an apology, for I am the one who told them about your prowess with the Force."

Shrugging, Anakin replied, "You didn't know. Besides, maybe the Force _wanted_ this to happen. The solution's easy at least. I already have the _Talon_. When I'm old enough to get my license, I'll just fly her away from here and they won't have to worry about me anymore." Without waiting for a reply, Anakin turned and headed for the training salle, suddenly grateful for the opportunity to fight…for the opportunity to take his mind off of the fact that, after the Jedi left, he would have nothing left…not even his name.

* * *

By the time they reached the training salle, Alaric was already gone and the equipment locker was open. Anakin quickly donned his fencing armor and picked up his sabre; he hated foils with a passion and had refused to use one since his first day with his father and uncle. He then watched as the Jedi Master helped his Padawan with his armor. Anakin bent down and scooped up another sabre, tossing it to Ben when the Padawan was ready. 

The two combatants moved into the middle of the room. The Jedi Master moved to the side, apparently intending to act as a referee. Ben asked, "Ready, Ani?"

Anakin nodded. "Always."

With that, Ben leaped at him. Anakin sensed Master Jinn's sudden panic and concern through the Force—after all, Ben didn't know anything about his fighting style or even if he truly did know how to wield his sword—and he reacted immediately, dodging Ben's attack and swinging his sabre hard at Ben's back.

Ben landed and twisted just in time to block Anakin's attack and, with that, the duel truly began. Anakin immediately went on the defensive so that he could examine Ben's technique; once again, his friend was using the strange form in which he mixed Ataru and Shii-Cho.

After only a minute, Ben backed away and settled himself into a defensive stance. "Okay, Ani, so you're good at defense…but how are you with offense?"

Anakin replied with a grin and a sudden horizontal sweep of his blade, aimed straight at Ben's leg. Ben had to stoop a bit to block the blow and Anakin muttered under his breath about how annoying it was to be short…then spun under his opponent's blade, which he was holding up with his own, and delivered a punishing reverse side kick to Ben's shin. Distracted, Ben yelped and jumped, and Anakin was right there with his sabre suddenly pressed against his friend's abdomen.

When Anakin turned to the Jedi Master, it was obvious that the man was surprised. Anakin laughed and gave Ben—who looked equally stunned—some advice. "My sword is just a sharp piece of metal that makes my arm longer. Your sword is a sharp piece of metal that makes your arm longer too…but you're trying to cut me with your sword. I know you're bigger than me which means that your long arm can reach me when mine can't reach you…so if I don't wanna get caught by your sword when mine's useless, I gotta get close and stay close. You're also stronger than me, so I don't wanna get stuck with my sword locked on yours for too long. So what am I gonna do? I'm gonna get close, I'm gonna get your sword out of commission, and then, when I'm inside your defenses, I'm gonna attack with my body while keeping my sword ready to block yours 'cause skin don't do so hot against sharp metal. I guess what I'm tryin' to say is that your sword ain't your only weapon and if you fight like it is, you've already lost to any opponent who knows it ain't."

Ben nodded. "Thank you for reminding me of that, Ani. It seems that it has been so long since I was in a real swordfight that I had forgotten."

Jinn walked up. "Where did you learn that, Anakin?"

Anakin shrugged. "Playing around. Managed to hurt myself a couple times too—why'd you think they keep this stuff locked up?"

Jinn chuckled. "I'm impressed. My Padawan has been learning swordplay since he was five years old and yet you defeat him so easily."

Anakin frowned. "It wasn't easy. Actually, since he wasn't expecting it, it was kinda dirty, I guess. He'd beat me if we fought again 'cause this time that trick wouldn't work and he _does_ have a longer reach than I do."

Ben smiled and raised his sabre. "Shall we test that theory?"

* * *

It was midday by the time they realized how long they'd been in the salle. At the end, even the Jedi Master had taken a few rounds with a sabre, twice with his Padawan and once with Anakin. 

As for Anakin, he had actually found that he enjoyed his duels with the Jedi and had picked up several tricks from observing them. As the fights had worn on, he had slowly allowed himself to move into his preferred Shien form, modified of course to compensate for the fact that the blade of a metal sabre has weight whereas the blade of a lightsaber does not.

When Jinn discovered that they had been at this for nearly seven hours, Ben and Anakin had been surprised to no end. Despite the time, Anakin asked the Jedi Master for one last round. Jinn sighed and began to pick up the sabre…when Ben stopped him.

Ben turned to Anakin and unclipped his lightsaber from his belt. Jinn's eyes widened. Anakin watched raptly as Ben lowered the intensity of his 'saber until it could cause no more than a nasty burn and then met Anakin's eyes. "I've set this so it will only cause a burn if it makes contact with skin." He then reached down, took Anakin's arm, lifted it, and placed his lightsaber in Anakin's hand, which was shaking slightly in his shock.

Master Jinn said, quietly, "Padawan, I am not so certain this is a good idea."

Kenobi turned and met his Master's eyes. "Master, he has proven himself quite proficient with a blade. He is Force-sensitive, even if he has not received formal training. I want…no, I _need_ to see him wield a Jedi weapon."

The Master nodded. "Very well, Padawan." Anakin then watched the Jedi Master draw his own 'saber and dial it down to its lowest intensity.

Jinn ignited his green blade with the characteristic _snap-hiss_ inherent in all lightsabers. Anakin gently thumbed the ignition of his borrowed weapon and watched as its blue blade leapt from the hilt. Looking up at the Jedi Master and receiving a nod, Anakin waved the lightsaber around for a few moments, taking note of the hilt's balance and getting used to the weightlessness of the blade after having spent so much of the day using metal-bladed weapons.

Once he felt ready, Anakin moved into a ready stance and looked up to meet the tall Master's eyes. "Okay," he said quietly, "I'm ready if you are."

Jinn rewarded him with a cockeyed smile. "Always," he replied, winking to show that his theft of Anakin's earlier retort was intentional.

Anakin immediately went on the offensive and the battle was met, the boy doing utmost to defend despite the fact that he was forced to keep his borrowed 'saber above his shoulders due to Jinn's height. It was quickly obvious that in this, at least, the battle would be easier for him with the lightsaber than it had been with the sabre, which was easily three times the weight of the hilt he was now wielding.

The fight lasted the entirety of eight minutes, ending only when Anakin saw a sudden hole in the Jedi Master's defense…and, in attempting to take advantage of it, left himself completely open to a lightning-fast disarming maneuver by Jinn.

Anakin stared at his wrist in surprise…and then looked up at the Jedi Master with respect in his eyes. The Jedi Master smiled in response. "Well fought, Anakin. I am impressed with how quickly you acclimated yourself to wielding a weapon with a weightless blade…and how long you lasted against me considering that this was your first use of such a weapon."

Anakin looked away to hide his surprise at the praise coming from the Jedi and replied, demurely, "It _was_ different…but in a good way. Our fight with the sabres was so short 'cause the sabres are so heavy and I have to keep my arms so high when I'm fighting you…but this is just so _light_!" He turned his gaze now to Jinn and allowed himself to smile. "I coulda kept going a lot longer if I hadn't been stupid."

Jinn chuckled. "Not stupid, Anakin. You saw an opening and attempted to exploit it; that is commendable. You simply need to learn to maintain your defense while going on the offensive."

Debating momentarily, Anakin asked quietly, "Would you show me?"

Qui-Gon frowned, hesitated, but ultimately nodded. "Later." As Anakin returned Obi-Wan's lightsaber and the three of them left the training salle, the Jedi Master thought to himself, _I've already caused the boy to be all but disowned, alone in the galaxy before his tenth birthday. The least I can do is show him some basic self-defense techniques; he will need to know how to protect himself if he is to survive off-world. What is the worst that could come of my teaching him a few basic moves?_ Yet even as he thought this, he consciously pushed away the memory dancing in his head: the memory of seeing Anakin staring at him with the eyes of the Sith.

* * *

The next couple days passed without incident…at least, Anakin could imagine this was so if he ignored the way that absolutely nobody other than Ben or the Jedi Master would dare speak to him or look him in the eyes. Anakin actually was beginning to find himself feeling a bit off-kilter at times with the seemingly constant presence of the contrite Jedi Master wherever he or Ben went. In fact, in a most startling move—at least in the young Sith's eyes—the Jedi Master had given him permission to address him as Qui-Gon instead of calling him "Master Jedi" or "Master Jinn" all the time. 

But today, Anakin knew he would no longer be able to ignore his new status as a non-member of his own family. Today, he was turning ten years old…and he _knew_, with the same level of conviction as he knew that Qui-Gon and Ben were standing right outside the _Talon_'s hatch waiting for him, that this would be the last time his family would celebrate his birth in the same breath as they did his sister's.

Taking a deep breath, Anakin remembered his own Master's words from the night before—a promise that, if no one else, his Master was willing to take him in. It was a great relief to Anakin that his Master had not been angry with him for what had happened; if his Master had shunned him as well, the boy would well and truly have been alone in the galaxy. _Even if the Jedi didn't have their whole thing against training older kids, I don't think I'd want to be raised as one of them. There are times I'm with Qui-Gon and Ben that they can just suddenly feel so…cold. Like they're not even Human. I don't understand how they can just shut off their emotions like that…and, if I'm honest with myself, I don't think I _wanna_ understand._

Opening the hatch, Anakin walked down to the waiting Jedi. "Happy birthday, Ani," Ben said with a smile.

"Yes, Anakin; happy birthday," Qui-Gon said, mirroring Ben's greeting.

Forcing himself to forget about everything, Anakin allowed a smile to appear on his face. "Thanks."

Suddenly, Ben reached into his cloak and withdrew a small satchel. Anakin was immediately confused. "What's that?"

Ben shrugged. "A birthday present for you."

Anakin was stunned as he quietly accepted the gift. After opening the satchel, he turned it over to pour its contents into his other hand. "Wow," he whispered, staring at the three perfect sky blue crystals resting in his hand. Feigning ignorance, he looked up and asked, "What are they for?"

It was Qui-Gon who replied, "The Force is strong with you, Anakin. Those crystals can be used as focusing crystals for a lightsaber. Of course, we cannot teach you how to build a lightsaber…but if you trust the Force, it will aid you."

Anakin bowed his head. "Thank you. I will keep these with me always."

Ben wrapped an arm around his friend. "C'mon. We've got a party to get to."

Anakin smiled and gently returned the crystals to their satchel, which then was placed securely in his pocket. "I guess we'd better get there then."

* * *

Ten minutes later, Anakin trailed the two Jedi into the palace banquet hall. He immediately turned his attention to the decorations, wrenching his attention away from the other people in attendance. Even if they were still allowing him to have this one last celebration, he knew that his new non-status in his family was going to be announced and he didn't want to be around anyone when it happened—not even Ben or Qui-Gon. 

He suddenly felt a hand grip his arm and was surprised to find that the hand belonged to Padmé. He couldn't help but blush as the handmaiden wrapped her arms around him and whispered, "I heard what happened; I'm so sorry! Your father and uncle wanted to change the party so that it would just be for your sister but the Queen wouldn't allow it."

Anakin's anger surged. _So they weren't even gonna let me have this one last birthday…_

Padmé felt the boy in her arms tense and the ambient temperature suddenly cold dramatically. "Ani?" she asked quietly, concerned.

The child pulled away. "I'm sorry, it's just…I knew they'd have to punish me if they ever found out, but now that they have found out…and they have _disowned_ me…well, I thought they'd at least act normal 'til everyone left."

The handmaiden frowned. "If you _knew_ that you'd get in trouble if they ever found out what you were doing, why did you do it?"

Anakin took a step back and looked up to meet the handmaiden's eyes. "Your planet is peaceful. Ben told me that yesterday. But now it's been invaded. If the only way to free Naboo turns out to be war, would you fight?"

Padmé took a step back. "I'm certain the Queen would far prefer a peaceful resolution…but yes, if a fight ends up being necessary, then we will do what we must."

Anakin sighed and looked away. "It's funny. I learned the Force so that I could protect my family…so that I wouldn't lose them like I did my mom. And now…now they're going to shun me, _disown_ me, because of what I learned to do to protect them. So at the end, despite everything, I've lost them anyways." He returned his gaze to the handmaiden before him, whose face had paled significantly. "I had a vision last night. You were dressed for battle and leading an army. The Force didn't show me anything about who might win or lose…but it did make it pretty clear that the Trade Federation won't leave Naboo without a fight. If…if my vision does end up being right…be careful?"

Padmé nodded slowly. "I will, Ani. I promise." She then turned and walked away, heading straight for a chair.

Anakin sighed. He'd hated to do that to Padmé…but she traveled with Jedi. She'd know better than to discount a vision—he hoped.

* * *

Ben and Qui-Gon checked on him sporadically to make sure he was doing alright. After so effectively pushing Padmé away, he had found himself a corner and done everything he could to make himself invisible. 

He heard a throat clearing above him and looked up to see Mahaja. Without preamble, his brother said, "Come. Your off-world friends would not allow Father to disown you properly until they have left, so your presence is still required for the cake-cutting."

Anakin stood slowly. "I did not ask them to defend me. In fact, I would have preferred if they had not interfered at all. But as they have…I will come."

Anakin silently followed his brother to the front of the room and was careful to not meet anyone's eyes as he took his place across the cake from his sister. Quickly scanning the crowd, he found Qui-Gon and Ben standing off to the side and felt as Ben sent him a quick burst of reassurance. At first, Anakin just smiled in response…and then he reached out to the Force, sending a pulse of gratitude to his friend.

Anakin reached out and slowly picked up one of the two ceremonial knives as his sister grasped the other. Together, they cut the cake in silence. When they were done, both stepped back and bowed, Nalini to their father and Anakin to their uncle. The adults took the knives from the children and they both moved aside.

As he moved, Anakin dared to chance a peek at his uncle's eyes…and his blood turned to ice at the look in his uncle's glare—the look that told the entire audience that he had just shared this ceremony with a ghost.

* * *

Once all visiting neighbors, friends, and delegates had left, Alaric walked over to their live-in guests and requested they depart for the time being. It was only when the only people left in the room were Skywalkers that Alaric rounded on Anakin. 

Alaric pronounced the charges in an even tone. "Anakin Freeborn-Skywalker, you have been accused of studying the ways of the Force in secret."

Anakin responded, "It is true."

Alaric's eyes closed. "If you have indeed done this, then you know the punishment for your crime. Recite it."

In truth, Anakin had been unaware of the exact punishment until he had seen it in his father's mind two days prior. Since then, he had found time to study his family's history. Now, he recited it from rote. "If one of Skywalker blood knowingly touches the Force, for any purpose, he shall be cast out, stripped of name and position, with no more than the clothes upon his back. If the accused is a minor child, he may be given one chance to repent, after which any further application of the Force shall be met with the child being shunned until he is of age."

Rurik stepped forward. "Do you repent?"

Anakin took a deep breath, measuring his choices. He could repent now and buy himself some time…or he could do what he felt was _right_. For a moment, he was struck with an urge to be able to return to the _Talon_, to contact his Master for instruction…but he was on his own here. Reaching to the Force for strength, he chose. "I do _not_ repent. In my eyes, I have done nothing wrong. The Force is just as natural to me as seeing or breathing, yet you would not ask me to walk around with my eyes closed or ask me to hold my breath. I know the punishment—I did not before, though I doubt it would have changed much if I had except that I would certainly have not revealed my learnings to the Jedi."

He could see the hurt and betrayal in the eyes of his father and uncle…and the vindication and anger in the eyes of his siblings. Finally, Alaric replied, "Then leave us. From this day forward, even the lowest servants outrank you. You may remain in the _Talon_ for the time being, but it is property of our clan and you may not take it with you when you come of age. In addition, the name of Skywalker is now stripped from you. Your name is now and forever Anakin Freeborn."

Anakin met his father's eyes. "No, it is not. My name is Andreas Phoenix." With this, he turned and left.

* * *

NEXT CHAPTER: Another vision. And other stuff.

Anakin's vision is based somewhat on a vision had by canon Anakin in the novelization of The Phantom Menace by Terry Brooks. See pages 154-155 of that book for his version of it.

Wow. It's truly amazing how a story can take command of itself. When I started this chapter, I planned on having a nice fun chapter with a fun party and perhaps some Jedi goofiness…but then the dark side came and twisted my vision, making me do things that I had not anticipated. On one hand, it gave me an excuse to make Anakin get closer to Qui-Gon. On the other hand…well, I hadn't intended to completely rip Anakin's life apart so viciously, but my muse demanded it be done and therefore it is.

Please review if you can; I hope to have the next chapter up at some point this week but no promises. I have been forced to take a weekend job to help with the fact that my hours were cut so drastically at my weekday job which means that I have not had a day off work since _last_ Sunday. If nothing else, it seems as though Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays are going to be fairly slow here, so I will get typed what I can over the course of the week.

Oh, and to answer two major potential questions (and probably lose a bunch of reviews asking these questions):

_The crystals that Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan gave to Anakin will not come into play for a very long time down the road. He will always carry them but, hey, he already _has_ a lightsaber…and Demetrian Anakin is going to be a bit more careful about his weapon than his canon Jedi counterpart. After all, Demetrian Anakin doesn't have a ready supply of components to replace his lightsaber every time he'd lose or break it._

_The reason Qui-Gon got a bit pale when Anakin used the Force to find his father will become clear in the next chapter; I plan on having some nice Jedi introspection before they leave Demetria. As much as I'd love to keep Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan on Demetria forever, the story must move on._


	13. Jedi Leave Demetria

**The Dreaded Yet Expected Author's Note:**

Thank you to my reviewers, to those who have added my story to alerts or favorites, and to my more anonymous readers alike.

Sources for this chapter include Wookieepedia and the TPM novelization by Terry Brooks.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars; George Lucas does. I'm just playing with his galaxy. Please don't sue. I do, however, claim a certain level of understood ownership over my original characters and locations.

* * *

The next morning, Obi-Wan went to the _Talon_ to awaken Anakin for breakfast but the boy informed him in no uncertain terms that there was no way he was going to enter the dining hall and that he had both his own food and his own little kitchenette on his ship. When he tried to press, his young friend replied simply, "In my own father's words, even our family's lowest servants now outrank me. Even with your company, I would not be allowed in the dining hall. Please, Ben…just go."

Stunned, Obi-Wan turned and headed to meet his Master in the dining hall. Upon finding Qui-Gon sitting at a small table apart from the Skywalkers, Obi-Wan wasted no time in telling his Master what Anakin had just told him. Qui-Gon nodded. "Yes, Alaric told me when I arrived. He said that Anakin has even gone so far as to renounce the name his mother gave him. I am concerned."

"What? Anakin said nothing to me of a new name…"

"Anakin took the name of Andreas Phoenix last night when they stripped him of his clan name."

There was silence between the two Jedi. For his part, Obi-Wan couldn't believe that any of this was happening; he was struck by a sudden wish that they had never run into his old friend Quin on Tatooine. Qui-Gon, on the other hand, perceived Knight Vos's recommendation that they take the Queen to Demetria as a mixed blessing.

"Master, I have seen that look in your eyes before. It has always happened in the past right around the same time I will start having a bad feeling about something. Yet since we've arrived here I have seen it three times and not once have I had so much as a hint of something being wrong."

"Oh? When were the other two times?"

"Just after your first meeting with Anakin when I came in to join you for meditation and then the other day when the three of us were in the training salle."

Qui-Gon nodded. "Obi-Wan, you're not going to want to hear this…but I sense that Anakin has not been completely forthcoming with us. I upset him during my first meeting with him…and at the end of our discussion, I swear that his eyes turned the color of molten amber for the briefest of instants. In fact, at that moment, his eyes reminded me of the Sith I saw during our departure from Tatooine. Then, in the salle…when he touched the Force, for a moment his presence brushed mine and I felt as though I was suddenly huddled on the barren wastes of Hoth in the middle of a nighttime blizzard without so much as a shelter. Anakin is dangerous, Obi-Wan. I sense he has chosen a dark path…and that he has someone guiding him to assure that he does not stray towards the light."

Obi-Wan closed his eyes. "I don't want to believe you, Master, but while we were sparring the other day, I suddenly found myself recognizing a few of Anakin's moves with his sabre as resembling a few of the katas taught to Initiates at the Temple. Certainly they were bastardized as he was using them with a heavy metal blade…but they were identifiable. That is why I was adamant on seeing Anakin spar with you using my lightsaber—I wanted to see how his fighting style would respond. Master…I don't know if you noticed, as we have seemingly made an unconscious choice not to discuss Anakin before now after how our last discussion turned out, but not only did Anakin fight unnaturally well with a lightsaber for someone who had never before touched one, but he was unmistakably using a modified version of the Shien form for the duration of the fight. Even Temple Initiates are only taught Shii-Cho; to know enough of the forms to not only use Shien but to be able to _modify_ it suggests to me that he must have a teacher of some sort."

Qui-Gon held his head in his hands. "Your young friend is a mystery, Padawan, and a potentially dangerous one at that. I don't know how far Master Windu's oath to the Skywalkers extends or if Anakin would even technically still be considered a Skywalker protected by that oath in view of recent events, but I do believe that the Council must be made aware of what we have learned here so that they can decide what action to take if any."

"Of course, Master." Obi-Wan hesitated then asked, "And if the Council chooses to take no action despite our warnings…?"

"Then we must heed their advice."

Obi-Wan frowned. "Well, Master, I believe that I can now officially say that I have a bad feeling about this. Why did we have to run into Quin on Tatooine?" he moaned.

Qui-Gon chuckled then once again turned serious. "It was the will of the Force that Quinlan found us and that we met Anakin, for better or for worse. At least the Order has been provided with a chance to rescue the child from the darkness before he is lost permanently."

* * *

The ship bearing parts with which to repair the Queen's transport arrived as the Jedi were finishing up their breakfast. Upon being informed that they would be able to depart for Coruscant shortly after midday, Obi-Wan went straight to Anakin.

The Padawan found his young friend sitting on the _Talon_'s ramp with Padmé by his side, neither speaking. He walked over quietly; when Anakin noticed him, he offered a wan smile. Obi-Wan took this as an invitation to sit next to the child and Anakin didn't say anything when he did.

Anakin was the one to break the silence. "So, you're leaving today."

Obi-Wan looked away. "We are. I'm afraid we've overstayed our welcome as it is and I would prefer we leave before we do any _more_ damage."

"It's alright. It was gonna happen sooner or later. I _am_ glad I wasn't alone when it did. I…I will miss you when you leave." He turned his head over to Padmé. "_Both_ of you."

Padmé smiled. "You're no longer bound to Demetria, Ani. I will expect you to visit me someday."

"I will." The boy's gaze turned hopeful. "You won't forget me, right?"

Padmé laughed. "How could I forget my future husband?"

Ani blushed and Obi-Wan remembered suddenly how Anakin had told him before that not _all_ of his visions were nightmares. _Did he have a vision that he would marry Padmé?_

Obi-Wan cleared his throat. "Master Qui-Gon told me you have adopted a new name, Ani?"

"Yeah…but I'd like it if you and Padmé and Qui-Gon kept calling me Ani. It just don't feel right for any of you to call me Andreas, or even Andy."

"Andreas…isn't that the alias you used with Jedi Vos on Tatooine?"

Anakin nodded. "I didn't feel safe giving anyone my real name on Tatooine. The senator had already told me that it was a bad, dangerous place with all sorts of people and I didn't want any of them trying to take me for money." Changing the topic, the boy asked, "Could I borrow Artoo again for a little while before you have to leave?"

Obi-Wan met eyes with Padmé and after a moment both nodded. "Of course, Ani," Padmé replied. "I'll go fetch him."

After Padmé left, Anakin turned to Obi-Wan. "You know, I meant what I said before. No matter what, we're gonna be friends, and Demetrians never break their promises. I will _never_ hurt you."

Obi-Wan frowned. "Ani, sometimes actions one takes can have unexpected consequences. If a daywing flapping its wings on Qiilura can create a sandstorm on Tatooine, then how can you say that an action you take will never hurt me?"

Anakin pondered this for several moments before answering, "I'll never _intentionally_ hurt you."

Chuckling, the Padawan replied, "That's better."

They sat together in silence until Padmé returned a few minutes later with Artoo right behind. Anakin leaped up, a genuine smile crossing his features. "Ben, wanna help me?"

Obi-Wan smiled in response. "Just tell me what you need done."

Padmé pretended to be upset and Obi-Wan fought the urge to laugh. "What about me?" she asked.

Anakin laughed. "You can help too, Padmé…I just didn't think you'd wanna."

Padmé shrugged. "I'm sure there has to be _something_ I can do."

As they headed inside the ship, Obi-Wan asked his friend, "Ani, if you're not going to be allowed to keep the _Talon_ anyways, why are you still adamant on repairing it?"

Anakin stopped for a moment then replied, simply, "Because every time I even _think_ about leaving it unfixed, even if the thought's only for a second, every sense I have starts screaming at me that I absolutely _can not_ leave the _Talon_ before it's in running order…like someday my life's gonna depend on whether or not this old ship is able to fly."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Well, then, let's get to work."

* * *

The Naboo entourage and their Jedi escorts left Demetria at 1400. Anakin watched from a distance, regretting that he was unable to be on the platform to say goodbye to his friends yet knowing that his choice not to repent was the right one. Right before the Nubian lifted off, Anakin heard a voice in his mind—the voice of the Jedi Master. _/May the Force be with you always, little one./_

Suddenly having a awful, gut-wrenching feeling as though this might very well be the last time he ever saw Qui-Gon if not Obi-Wan again, Anakin called back, _/You too, Master Qui-Gon./_

As the ship vanished, Anakin wasted no time in retreating to the _Talon_ and comming his Master. Kneeling as he pressed the button to initiate the call, he waited as patiently as he could for his Master to pick up.

He could hardly hide his relief as he heard his Master's voice. "Rise, my young apprentice."

Anakin quickly took to his feet and Sidious commented, "You appear stressed. I sense something has changed. Tell me."

Anakin looked away. "They found out. My father and uncle, that is. They found out that I've been learning about the Force."

"Oh? And how is this?"

"Obi-Wan figured out that I could consciously touch the Force and he told his Master about it, and then his Master told my father and uncle, not knowing the consequences."

Sidious sighed. "Well, I was expecting that we could only keep them in the dark for so long. Do they know of my involvement?"

Anakin stood a bit straighter. "No, my Master. I told them that everything I know, I taught myself, and I only admitted to a few basic tricks—nothing that I might not have figured out on my own given time."

"Why did you even admit to these few small abilities, my apprentice?"

"They were friends of Jedi Vos's. They already knew."

"I see. Tell me, how are your father and uncle…dealing with this information?"

Anakin now looked away. "I have been shunned. I am no longer a prince; in fact, the servants who scrub the Palace 'freshers have more say in the Palace than I do now. They were going to let me keep the name Anakin and just take my mother's last name but I refused that; I am now going by the name Andreas Phoenix."

"Why would you refuse your mother's name, child?"

Anakin sighed. "It didn't _feel_ right. If they want me out of the family so bad, then why would they let me still use my mom's name? Besides, just changing my name back to Freeborn would make them seem less guilty, like they hadn't really cast me out when they have. If they're gonna strip me of everything, well, I'm gonna make 'em admit it to the world that they've turned me out."

Sidious nodded. "At the end, it doesn't matter. Upon truly joining me as my Shadow Hand, you would have been required to renounce your birth name anyways."

Anakin smiled. "I know, my Master. Considering how my brother and sister have been treating me this last year, I've been having trouble being patient waiting for that day to come."

"I warned you about telling them of your visions, my young apprentice."

"Yes, my Master. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you."

"And what are your plans now?"

"I will live in the_Talon_. It has a 'fresher, a bed, and a kitchen. I know they had some money set back for me and I'll demand they give it to me so I can keep buying food and new clothes when I grow out of these. And I'll wait for you to ask me to come."

Sidious smiled. "I sense that day may still be a little ways off, my apprentice, but it is coming. Let me know if you require my assistance."

"Yes, my Master." And with that, the Sith Master nodded to his apprentice and then ended the connection.

Anakin turned, walked over to his bed, and reached underneath, closing his hand around the wooden practice rod his uncle had given him for his last birthday. He walked out into the hangar and worked on his katas until he could hardly stand, then headed inside the _Talon_ and collapsed on his bed, letting his exhaustion take him.

* * *

That night, Anakin once again saw his dream of Padmé leading an army. This time, however, the vision continued on, and with more players. He saw the army fighting against terrible odds…Padmé saying that _she_ was the Queen…Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan facing off against a red-skinned tattoo-covered creature that he could only assume was his Master's current Shadow Hand…Padmé fighting and winning…Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan…

Anakin awoke with a start, sweat drenching his body. _I promised Ben I'd never hurt him on purpose…and if I can't warn him about what I just saw, I'm gonna break that promise!_

Anakin rushed to his communications unit just in time to remember that Ben had told him that their ship was on comm silence; even if he _did_ call them, no one would answer. He quickly began to pace the floor, debating options. _I could try to call the Jedi Temple…I wonder when they'll get back there…_

Decision made, Anakin dialed up the operator and demanded that he be patched through to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. She laughed and asked him how exactly he planned to pay for such a call. Anakin paled as he realized she was right; whenever he called his Master, Sidious took care of the bill. He couldn't very well ask his Sith Master to pay for him to call the Jedi Temple to inform a Jedi Master that he was going to die at the 'saber of the current Sith Apprentice…and at the moment, he had no money to call his own until he convinced his father that the money he'd been saving in the bank was still his and his father agreed to sign for him to close the account and get his money.

Switching off his comm unit, Anakin walked back over to his bed and sat down. _Qui-Gon Jinn is going to die the next time he goes to Naboo…and there's absolutely nothing I can do about it._

* * *

NEXT CHAPTER: A new assignment for Andreas.

Starting in the next chapter, Anakin will be referred to as Andreas throughout. For the sake of consistency, I chose to still refer to him as Anakin until the Jedi had left and this chapter ended. Also, the next chapter will pick up three years after the end of this one. Nothing overly exciting is going to happen in those three years; anything that _was_ exciting at all will be provided in thoughts and memories.

I am going to work under the assumption that everyone here has either read, viewed, or read about Qui-Gon's death. There is no need for me to hash it out here. Therefore, I will save everyone reading time by not doing so. As much as I regret killing him off, it is unfortunately necessary. He has served his purpose for the moment. Of course, this is not to say that a certain pesky Force-ghost might not pop his head into the story some time down the road.

Lots of foreshadowing in this chapter. Kudos to anyone who catches it all.

The next chapter ends the current Demetrian arc of the story as Anakin will be leaving Demetria, this time for far more than just a year-long joyride with his Master. _As a warning_, the next chapter is going to be_dark_. Remember: Andreas is _Sith_, not a conflicted Jedi. He made his first _kill_ when he was eight years old, and that was a man he had _befriended_…


	14. A New Assignment

**The Dreaded Yet Expected Author's Note:**

Thank you to my reviewers, to those who have added my story to alerts or favorites, and to my more anonymous readers alike.

Sources for this chapter include Wookieepedia.

WARNING: This chapter is going to be _dark._ Just be warned.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars; George Lucas does. I'm just playing with his galaxy. Please don't sue. I do, however, claim a certain level of understood ownership over my original characters and locations.

* * *

_Three Years Later_

Thirteen-year-old Andreas Phoenix rose with the dawn. Once, he had once cherished every moment of sleep he could wrest before getting up just in time to clean up quickly and grab a bite to eat before leaving for school. The memory no longer hurt him to recall, not as it had during his early days as the Shunned One. No, now memories of his old life were simply…there. When one of them popped into his mind unbidden, he would reflect upon it then cast it away, feeling no more than a numb indifference. After all, the life of late mornings and familial ties was not only long gone to Andreas—it had never _been_ his. That life had belonged to Anakin. And he was most certainly not Anakin.

He had thought Anakin's death to be the night that Alaric—he could no longer bring himself to even _think_ of Anakin's family as his own—had declared Anakin to be Shunned. Yet even after that, he had insisted that the Padawan and the Handmaiden call him by the name he would have denied to anyone else. Later, he understood why. The night of the Shunning had only been the _beginning_ of Anakin's death. In truth, the boy had died the day he had accompanied Alaric into town to close his bank account and had viewed, while walking past a furniture store, the HoloNet broadcast of the outcome of the Naboo crisis…and the funeral pyre of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn.

He had not needed the news to tell him how the Jedi Master had died. He had seen it himself in a vision a week prior. A vision he had wanted nothing more than to prevent…but he had been unable to do so due to Alaric's refusal to either accompany him to the bank before that day or fund the call himself until they could go to the bank.

Andreas would never forget the stunned look in Alaric's eyes as he had seen the broadcast declaring the passing of events that Andreas had predicted days before, nor the way Alaric had jerked and paled when Andreas had grabbed his arm and growled, "I told you so." Those four simple words, laced with all the loathing the young Sith could muster, had been Anakin's epitaph.

He had made a point to do everything in his power to avoid seeing any of the Skywalkers after that day—which had led to the development of his routine of awakening early so that he could leave the palace before any of the Skywalkers would even be beginning to stir and not returning until the Force told him they had all retired for the night. As a Shunned One, he would be expected to bow and scrape as a servant would in the presence of Anakin's family. As a Sith, he refused to show such unworthy ones so much respect.

They had forced him to break a vow he had made to his only friend in the galaxy. For the first time, Andreas had truly found himself wondering if Mahaja hadn't been right in warning Ben to stay away from him. Could it be possible that it was his friendship with Ben that had led to Qui-Gon's demise?

Half an hour later, Andreas was bathed, clothed, and munching on a biscuit as he left the palace grounds through a secret passageway he had found in the_Talon_'s hangar. The small park where the passage ended was secluded and nearly always empty at this time of the morning, making it perfect for working through his katas with his wooden training sword or even just sitting and meditating—not his favorite skill, true, but it had its moments, especially after some of the conversations he would have with his Master regarding the nature of the Force or a new technique that his Master would tell him about and he would then have to figure out on his own.

For years, he had wished nothing more than that his Master would comm him with orders to leave Demetria and join him somewhere. He had nearly expected such a call when he had learned that Ben had successfully eliminated Maul. Instead, when he had suggested it obliquely, his Master had informed him simply that he was still far too young and that he had found another "placeholder" apprentice—a disgruntled Jedi Master who had left the Order after Qui-Gon's death.

Now things were about to change.

* * *

It had been eight months since Andreas had set foot in a school building. A new kid—Roald Jaeger—had thought it would be fun to see how far he could provoke Andreas before he snapped, pushing him into a locker and asking him what exactly he was going to do about it, considering there was no one in the school who would dare be seen rising up in his defense. Andreas had left the school that day with a couple bruises and a letter from the principal stating the date and time for his expulsion meeting—nothing but a formality, really, as Andreas had no family to stand for him and he would not be allowed to speak on his own behalf.

As far as Andreas knew, Roald was still undergoing rehabilitation after the doctors had repaired his shattered spine; the Force-push Andreas had replied with had been powerful enough that Roald's impact against the permacrete wall had resulted in the wall cracking from the floor to the ceiling, with a large network of spider web cracks at the actual point of impact. Andreas still smiled when he thought of the principal's face right after having been handed the letter, when he had asked the principal innocently how it was possible that _he_ could have been the one to cause the other boy's injuries when he had not laid even so much as a finger on Jaeger…and the two teachers who had witnessed the event were forced to admit that Andreas had never moved from the spot where he had landed after being thrown against the locker.

Naturally, his Master refused to allow him to just sit around and work on his Force abilities, instead assigning Andreas research topics upon which he would be tested thoroughly later. These topics ranged from math to galactic history to how to incapacitate a member of a given species in no more than three hits without his lightsaber. Therefore, every day after his morning katas, Andreas would then spend hours on end at the local library, preparing for the test he knew his Master would administer at the end of each week on the topic in question.

In every spare moment he had, he worked on the _Talon_. It had taken quite a bit of electronic correspondence between himself and Rurik but he had finally convinced them to fund the parts he required; after all, he had argued, it was _their_ ship he was repairing, and it was in their interests to have a functional spaceworthy ship in case of emergency.

Today, however, was different. His Master had given him an assignment the previous night—a test of his abilities in the Force. He was to do what Rurik and Alaric had been incapable of doing despite their network of contacts…

"_You're still a tad young for what Lord Tyranus is currently doing for our cause," his Master had informed him, "but I have discovered that certain people in the Senate are being a mite too successful in hampering Lord Tyranus's operation. It would be quite helpful for some of those people to be…silenced. Prove to me your ability to track a target and eliminate it. I do not care how, so long as it is done and your guilt cannot be proven. I believe that the people who killed your mother would be an excellent test of your skills. Fulfill this task and come to me, my young apprentice."_

And so today Andreas was headed not to the library but to the place it had all begun: the skeleton of the home where he had once lived as Anakin Freeborn. True, any evidence left there would be nearly a decade old. True, members of local and planetary law enforcement had swept the scene hundreds of times in the past nine years. Andreas, however, knew he had an advantage none of them could hope to touch: he had the ability to control the Force.

Arriving at the house, Andreas slipped under the crime scene tape surrounding the place, keeping his senses keen and projecting an illusion that would make anyone who saw him dismiss him as a trick of the light—or the shadows. Mind tricks weren't exactly his specialty but the people of Demetria seemed to mostly be easily influenced by them, seeing as Demetrians didn't even know of the Force and its uses.

Climbing over the charred remains of the garage wall, Andreas searched both his memories and the Force, finding the location where his mother had fallen upon her death. As he sat down not a meter from that location, he could feel the memories trying to overcome him. With all the self-control he could muster—_a Sith uses their emotions to control the Force; a Sith does _not_ allow their emotions to control them!_—Andreas forced away his feelings of grief and sadness, instead focusing on the memories and entering a deep meditation…

Andreas was hit by a sensation of rapidly falling. Sudden fear almost made him drop out of his meditation but Andreas took hold of the fear, quickly molding it into an emotion that could actually be _useful_: anger. Anger at the people who had stolen his mother from him…the people he was absolutely _determined_ to identify so he could take vengeance for his mother's death.

In that instant, Andreas found that it was as though he were actually _there_. The garage was suddenly once again intact, his father grappling with two of the burglars while his mother was fighting off the third. Based upon the fact that there was no reaction from anyone in the room, he assumed that they could not see him. Not knowing exactly what was going on but not willing to pass up the chance he was being provided, Andreas reached out with the Force, committing the Force signatures of the three burglars to memory. After all, it was his earliest actual lesson in the Force: _"As each individual has his or her own unique set of fingerprints, each individual also has his or her own unique signature in the Force,"_ his Master had told him.

He was somewhat surprised to find that one of the burglars had a Force signature very similar to that of Roald Jaeger's. _Well, I suppose I know where to start then._

Pulling out of his meditation, Andreas stood, wiping the ash from his pants before reaching into his jacket and withdrawing a simple black rose. Bending down, he set the rose in the exact spot where his mother had perished. He then left without a sound.

* * *

Andreas had long ago found the spy software that the Skywalkers had put on his computer and eliminated it. On top of that, he had put so many layers of encryption on his personal terminal on the _Talon_ that it was impossible for any but the best slicers to trace his uplink. It was this computer that he used to run a report on the identities of all of Roald Jaeger's living relatives. After all of three minutes, Andreas had found the identity of one of the men his father had been grappling with: Roald's mother's brother, Siarl Rieger.

_And to imagine that Alaric and Rurik have been searching for nine years. Pitiful._

Of course, he would use the Force to confirm this later, but Rieger's holo had appeared familiar so Andreas had pulled up the man's history…and sure enough, when Andreas found the man's holo from his high school yearbook—his senior year, no less—the man appeared exactly as he had during Andreas's little flashback earlier in the day.

Andreas stood up and walked over to his bed, lifting the mattress and withdrawing not his practice sword but his lightsaber, along with a small blaster. He then headed for his closet and pulled out a black hooded cloak, a pair of fitted nerf-leather gloves, and a speederbike helmet he had purchased years ago in hopes that he would get a speederbike for his birthday… _No, _Anakin_ purchased that helmet. I'm certain he would never have expected it to be used for this purpose however…or did he? After all, it is ever so convenient that he purchased one with a face shield through which one can only see out, not in._ He would find out the names of the man's accomplices the old-fashioned way…and then he would begin his vengeance. After all, the men who pinned his father down were just as responsible for his mother's death as the one who had held the blaster.

After donning his new outfit and once again throwing up an illusion so that no one would notice the oddness of his attire, Andreas crept out of the palace for the second time that day. Walking nonchalantly through the city—acting normally only enhanced his illusion—the boy easily found his target's current address. As he did, he reviewed the information he had found. Rieger was married with two children, aged 17 and 14. He worked 12-hour shifts at the local meat-processing plant; he would not be home for another four hours or so. His wife should be getting home in another hour and their children—the elder a female and the younger a male—would be arriving shortly thereafter.

Andreas once again pulled the Force around him in an illusion and crept onto the property. Seeing a rather large bush near the house's front door, Andreas smiled. He walked over and knelt behind the bush, entering a light meditation. _He will have a security system_, Andreas thought. _He was once a burglar himself; he will protect his family against others trying to rob them. I'm certain, however, that I can…convince…his wife to let me come inside._

As expected, an hour later, Andreas heard the sound of a speeder pulling up to the house. Through the Force, he felt a presence approach and he readied himself. A blond-haired woman walked up to the door and swiped a keycard. As the door opened, the woman walked in—and Andreas leaped through the door, rolling and withdrawing his blaster. He called on the Force and slammed the door closed, dropping the illusion over his appearance as he did so. He sensed the woman about to scream and once again reached out to the power he commanded, paralyzing her vocal cords. He then hissed, "Your life is now in my hands. Obey me and your death with be painless. Disobey, and not only will _your_ death be long and excruciating, but it will only come after I have shown you what to expect…through the deaths of your children. Nod if you understand me."

The woman nodded quickly, her terror apparent in her eyes. Andreas continued. "It is unfortunate that you have been caught in the crossfire…but your husband has information I require, and I have a score to settle with him. I am going to give you a chance to minimize my body count. I will release the pressure currently preventing you from speaking. You will call your children and tell them to spend the night with friends. If they ask why, you will tell them that you have a surprise planned for their father and that you desire to have a night alone with him. They are both old enough to understand the implications of such a request. Allow me to warn you, however, that I will be able to sense if you are going to attempt to deceive me. Do you understand?"

Once again, the woman nodded, pulling out her comlink. Sensing no deception, Andreas released the chokehold he had the woman in and watched as she contacted each of her children. After both calls were complete—with the son being quite disgusted at his mother's stated intentions—Andreas held out his hand and squeezed. The comlink fell at the woman's feet, no longer any more than a twisted, sparking piece of metal.

The boy pointed at the sofa and the woman obediently sat down. She then asked, quietly, "Why are you doing this?"

Andreas replied, "My home was burglarized when I was four years old. My mother was killed as I watched. Your _husband_ was one of the burglars." At the woman's gasp, Andreas sneered, "He _will_ tell me the name of the man who pulled that trigger…and then he will face retribution for his crime. Once again, I do feel regret that you have been pulled into the middle of this…but I have discovered that people tend to be _far_ more willing to speak when they have someone to protect through their words."

Andreas crossed the room and sat down in a location where he would be hidden when the door opened. He added, "I can sense your fear. Allow me to make a recommendation. Make peace with any deities you believe in. You—and your husband—will be dead by nightfall. Take consolation in the fact that your children will be spared your fate."

The hours ticked by. The woman on the sofa moved only once, to retrieve a datapad. Andreas asked her intentions and she said merely that she wished to write out her last wishes and draft a letter to her children. Andreas nodded and reached out, destroying the datapad's ability to uplink with any outside computers. "Very well. Continue. Be forewarned that I _will_ read that datapad before I leave here tonight."

Finally, Andreas heard another speeder pull up. "Put down the datapad," Andreas ordered his prisoner. The woman stood and turned the datapad so Andreas could see it, pressing the button to save what she had composed thus far. She then placed it on the sofa, shutting it off. "It is password protected. The password is Lexis—our dog's name. I ask that you please feed her and give her water before you leave tonight."

Andreas nodded. "I will take care of your dog. You have my word."

Footsteps sounded outside. There was the sound of the lock clicking as a card was scanned in the reader outside and the door opened. As it closed, Andreas made certain that the person entering was his target, comparing the man's Force signature with the signature of the man from his vision—for lack of anything else to call it. He then quickly paralyzed the man's vocal cords as he had done with his wife before. Standing, he closed the door. "Siarl Rieger," he spit.

The man turned to him, his eyes wide. Confusion and fear were apparent in both the man's eyes and Force presence. Andreas said, calmly, "Nine years ago, you and two of your friends robbed a house during the Great Drought. I want the names of the men who accompanied you that day. Answer me quickly and I will make your deaths painless. Refuse to answer…and you will watch your wife suffer."

The woman turned to Andreas and he quickly reached out to sense her intent. He smiled as he felt anger and hatred boiling in her Force presence. He nodded. "I sense there is something you wish to say. Please, do."

With that permission, the woman stormed over and slapped her husband so hard that Andreas could have sworn he heard it echo. "How could you!?" she cried. "You told me that you and your buddies had robbed a few shops around town and promised that no one had been hurt…and now I find out that someone was _killed_! I would recommend that, if you want any chance of your soul being saved, you tell this boy everything you know."

Andreas released the man's vocal cords. Rieger whispered, "The authorities have been working on that case for nine years now. Who are you and how did you find me?"

Andreas replied, "I am the younger son of the woman killed that night…and the same power that allows me to force your silence granted me the knowledge of your identity. I know the faces of your accomplices but not their names. You will give me this knowledge. In return, your children will be spared. Thank your gods that their mother—unlike mine—was able to at least compose them a letter telling them goodbye."

The man bowed his head. "Otoniel Vinzenz helped me restrain your father. Cuyler Streiter was the one with the blaster. If you will grant me the right to use my comlink, I will call each of them and invite them over for a game of sabacc, that way their families will be spared."

Andreas considered. The man radiated regret and…was that a desire for retribution? Quite frankly, the boy suddenly found himself quite confused.

Andreas sighed. He was feeling quite conflicted at the moment—not a good feeling for a Sith apprentice. After all, he had come here to avenge his mother's death. If he killed these people, he would be leaving the Rieger children as orphans. Was it not the goal of the Sith to use their powers to right the wrongs of the galaxy? Siarl was merely an accomplice to the murderer. Did he deserve death?

Siarl noticed that the boy's stance had changed and decided to take a chance. He had no problem with Cuyler being killed by the kid; after all, at the end, it was Cuyler who had pulled the trigger that caused this whole mess. He even didn't feel too bad about Otoniel dying; the man hadn't been quite _right_ since the event and his death might be a mercy. But he had no intention of dying tonight. The child came up to his armpits. Certainly he couldn't be _that_ tough, even if he _did_ have some strange abilities…

Suddenly Siarl found himself slammed back into a corner, the wind knocked out of him. He watched, horrified, as the boy turned to his wife, reached out a hand, and squeezed it into a fist. She gasped, began to reach up as though to clutch her chest, then collapsed to the floor, her eyes lifeless.

Siarl moved to leap up but the boy raised his other hand in his direction, removing his glove. The next thing Siarl knew, he was overcome with pure agony as blue-white lightning erupted from the boy's hand. After what seemed an eternity, the boy dropped his hand and sneered, "You know, it's odd. I had just been considering sparing the two of you. After all, both of you had been being so _cooperative_." He once again pulled out his blaster. "Call your friends."

Siarl ground out, "How? You just shorted my comlink!"

The boy laughed, a sound that sent chills up and down Siarl's spine. "No I didn't. It's sitting two meters away from you."

Siarl looked where the boy was pointing and forced himself to crawl over to the comlink. He picked it up and looked up at the child. His arm was still outstretched. "Do it."

Siarl began to dial the number for local law enforcement…and he suddenly felt his air supply being cut off, as though an invisible hand had wrapped itself around his throat… The boy snarled, "I can sense your intentions. I have your friends' names. I could quite easily use any datapad in this house to find their addresses. Now, it is your choice. You can call them over here…or I can go to them. I promise you, if I must take the second option, all occupants of both houses will die."

Siarl nodded and gasped, "Okay, kid, you win!"

Andreas released his Force-choke and Siarl called first Otoniel then Cuyler. Cuyler agreed to go pick up Otoniel and bring him over for a movie, some beer, and a game or two of sabacc. Siarl then took his wife's place on the sofa and sat down, his face white.

Meanwhile, Andreas sat down next to the body of the wife. He had not actually intended to kill her…but he'd been so _angry_! He mentally kicked himself for letting his emotions control him. _I sure hope Master is able to teach me how to control myself better._

Twenty minutes later, the doorbell rang and Siarl answered it. Andreas recognized the Force-signatures of the men on the other side of the door and grinned. _Soon, my mother will be avenged._

Cuyler and Otoniel entered the room and blanched when they saw the dead body and the boy standing behind it. Siarl closed the door and said, conversationally, "Cuyler, remember that burglary nine years ago, when you shot that woman? I'd like you both to meet her son."

Cuyler took a step back towards the door. Otoniel just stared horrified at the body of Siarl's wife. Andreas removed his other glove and raised his hands. "I can't even _begin_ to tell you how much I've been looking forward to this moment," he sneered, once again calling on the Force and watching as now the two newcomers were engulfed in the lightning emanating from his outstretched palms.

An hour later, it was over. He stepped over Cuyler's sprawled body, taking note of the trickle of blood running from the corner of the man's mouth. He sat down on the sofa, put back on his gloves, and picked up the datapad the wife had left for him, entering the password she had provided. Reading through the note, he found nothing but a typical will and a letter full of anecdotes and love for her children.

At the very end of the letter, Andreas froze. _"Your father should be home now any minute. I have been taking furtive peeks at the boy—no, the_man_—who is promising our death. He tells me that your father killed his mother when he was naught but four years of age. It was during the time of the Great Drought. Your father brought this datapad home with him that night; I have never reformatted it. If this paragraph is even still here when the assassin has left, I somehow doubt that the datapad this note is on will be the one I wrote it on. After all, this datapad technically belongs to his family._

"_I remember hearing about what had happened the next day, though I was an idealist and never connected your father to it. It was all of nine years ago, which makes the assassin sitting so calmly by the door no more than thirteen. A year younger than even you, Pierce. I pray to the gods that the two of you do not lose your souls to vengeance as he has. If it helps at all, know this: I forgive him. Yes, that is right. I _forgive_ him. I want the two of you to forgive him as well! At the very least, be grateful that he spared your lives. I expect the two of you to not waste such a precious gift. Shae, you have the blessings of both myself and your father to marry the boy you've been seeing. Garrick's a good boy and I know you'll be happy with him; we've just been reluctant to let you go! Pierce, reach for your dreams. Help Garrick take care of your sister, but don't let that hold you back._

"_Remember that we both loved you very much."_

Andreas felt a warm streak run down his cheek and realized he was crying. He quietly stood and began to explore the house. When he found the study, he searched the drawers 'til he found another datapad. He carried it down the stairs and picked up the original datapad, quietly editing out the numbers and information that would help the children—Shae and Pierce—identify him. He then linked the two datapads through an actual cord—necessary since he had destroyed the original datapad's wireless uplink—and copy and pasted the modified letter to the new datapad.

Quickly, Andreas then typed an addendum to the note:

"_Just so that the two of you know, I was not going to kill your mother. I only wished the deaths of your father and his friends for the crime they perpetrated against my own family. Your mother was killed when your father attacked me; she was caught in the crossfire. I know that my words will not bring her back and for that I apologize. If it helps at all…she did not suffer."_

The boy walked into the back yard, wrapping himself once again in illusions, and fed and watered the dog as promised then numbly stole out of the house, heading back for his secret tunnel home. He managed to return to the _Talon_ without incident and removed his gloves, helmet, and cloak. He then headed to the _Talon_'s refresher to clean up before he would pack up all essentials and head downtown to find a smuggler for hire to take him off the planet.

As he entered the refresher, he caught a glimpse of a mirror from the corner of his eye and turned abruptly to stare in shocked silence.

Reflecting back at him were not gentle blue eyes but rather cruel eyes of red-rimmed amber, set in a hard face flecked with tear tracks.

He knew those eyes. He had seen them three years ago in a vision.

In the face of Qui-Gon's killer.

* * *

NEXT CHAPTER: Andreas leaves Demetria and meets up with his Master on Coruscant.

This chapter was very hard to write. I actually first wrote this chapter with only Cuyler being killed but I realized it would be rather foolish for Andreas to leave behind witnesses…plus his orders from his Master were to eliminate all three of them. Regardless, I did _not_ want to kill the wife.

Andreas will explore the contents of the datapad in the next chapter.

And now it is almost 3 a.m. so I am going to bed.

If anyone is interested in seeing the original version of the chapter, tell me so in a review or PM me and tell me where to send it.


	15. From Demetria to Coruscant

The Dreaded Yet Expected Author's Note:

**The Dreaded Yet Expected Author's Note:**

Thank you to my reviewers, to those who have added my story to alerts or favorites, and to my more anonymous readers alike.

Sources for this chapter include Wookieepedia.

I apologize for how long it has taken me to write this chapter. Darth Real Life has been exerting his influence on my life far more than usual lately and frankly I've been too worn out to even consider doing anything involving my brain when I'm not being forced to. Please forgive me if this chapter isn't quite up to par and, as always, shout if you catch anything that doesn't seem quite right.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars; George Lucas does. I'm just playing with his galaxy. Please don't sue. I do, however, claim a certain level of understood ownership over my original characters and locations.

* * *

Andreas leaned back and sighed as the _Rain's Cadence_ left the Demetrian atmosphere. A small heavily-modified YT-700, the _Rain's Cadence_ was owned and operated by a Corellian smuggler who called himself only Meghdut. It hadn't been his first choice of ship—Meghdut was obviously in hard times, as smugglers would typically put their ship's needs over their own and the _Cadence_ was in desperate need of maintenance—but it had been one of only three ships willing to risk going within five parsecs of Coruscant. Besides, Meghdut had been very reasonable regarding the price of passage; the instant Andreas had informed him that he knew his way around a ship, Meghdut had informed the boy that he would take him anywhere in the galaxy so long as Andreas made sure the ship kept running.

Currently, however, Andreas was lightly fingering the datapad he had retrieved from the Rieger residence. The message that Greta Rieger—he had made a point to learn the names of all of his victims and their families during his wait at the spaceport, after he had stopped by a small black market store and purchased the parts necessary to fix the datapad's uplink—had left for her children had indicated that this datapad's memory had never been wiped. He expected to find no more than old accounting data from the shop Alaric and Shmi had run so long ago, but even that was better than nothing.

Decision made, Andreas powered up the datapad. He was greeted with the original unedited version of Greta's note and pushed away the guilt that threatened to overwhelm him once again thinking of her death. _She knew who I was. I was stupid enough to tell her that I was the victim's son—a quick HoloNet search would have revealed my identity to her, then she would have taken that knowledge to the authorities. I couldn't have left her alive._

Keeping this thought in place, Andreas began to explore the datapad. At first, all he found was no more than he'd expected: the old accounting data, advertisements for the shop, some old holonovels…he had almost given up on finding anything of real value when he clicked on a folder and suddenly found himself confronted with a dialog box asking for a password. Grinning, Andreas dug into his small satchel of belongings—he had sold anything that he could not conceive needing in his new life rather than being weighed down by purposeless objects—and pulled out his slicing kit. Less than a minute later, he found himself confronted by an old two-dimensional holoimage, in which a much younger version of Alaric stood next to Shmi, each holding a toddler, while a very young Mahaja stood between them. After staring at the image for a long moment—_We all look so happy in this image…_—Andreas clicked past the screen and found himself confronted by thousands of small data files. Reading the filenames, a lump rose in Andreas's throat. _This…this is my mother's journal!_

* * *

_The Fourth Day of the Seventh Month of the Twenty-First Year of the Reign of King Merrick_

_Dear Diary,_

_I met the most amazing man today while walking through the market! So polite…so intelligent…so _gorgeous_!! Not a single one of his blond locks was out of place and his eyes…oh, his eyes! Such deep sapphire eyes, filled with fire and passion and… Yet he's not just some pretty-boy with the idea that good looks mean that he doesn't need to know anything. Brea started a debate with him on the historical accuracy of a recent holonovel and he won the debate, hands down! There was only a single point of hers that he couldn't refute—for the life of me I can't remember now what it was—but he even admitted his inability to disprove her logic with grace! Most males these days… But there's a problem. Before he left, he took me aside and said that he wanted to see me again and that he felt some sort of connection with me and had a feeling that we're meant to be…but that he knew his family would never approve of us being together and we'd have to do it secretly. We made plans to meet at the park a week from now after dusk…and then he said he heard his father calling and he had to go. But then I saw the speeder he walked to and saw his father and realized that I had just made plans to secretly meet up with the _Crown Prince of Demetria_!! And I'm panicking now 'cause what is a girl supposed to wear to a clandestine meeting with the man of her dreams who also happens to be the man who is supposed to rule her planet someday…!? I think I need to go to bed now and I'll worry about all of this when the time comes…ohmigods what if my parents catch me sneaking out and find out I'm meeting up with a boy and want to meet him and ohmigods ohmigods _ohmigods_!!_

_Shmi_

Andreas smirked as he lay on his bunk on the _Cadence_, reading his mother's journal. Despite all of his denials that he had ever been Anakin, he found himself unable to think of Shmi as Anakin's mother and not his own. Perhaps, he reasoned, it was because Shmi had died before Anakin's Shunning and therefore it was possible that she would have allowed herself to be Shunned with him. Certainly, the prospect was _unlikely_, but it was _possible_.

He'd read about his mother's parents giving her the datapad. He'd read about her friends and her school life and her crushes and boyfriends and dates and all else…and now he'd found out how she'd met Alaric. His memories of his mother were of a smiling, quiet, gentle woman—not a squealing teenager. Despite his curiosity, he knew that he had to put down the datapad and get some sleep; the _Cadence_ would be docking on Rodia in just a few hours and there were parts he needed in order to repair the ship well enough to reach Coruscant without issues, and he didn't want to haggle without having slept for nearly a standard day.

* * *

Andreas was almost staggered by the intense aggression permeating the Force on Rodia. Meghdut assured him that the Rodians would leave off-worlders alone as long as they intended to help Rodia's economy, but that didn't help the fact that, as far as Andreas could tell, each and every single Rodian in the vicinity radiated danger into the Force. Of course, Andreas reckoned, if aggression and violence were the measure of power in this society…well, it wasn't as if he was an innocent little boy with no knowledge of such things. Andreas schooled his expression into one of bored hostility, knowing from both research and experience that such an expression tended to throw potential aggressors off-balance while they tried to determine just how much a threat he might be.

Just to be on the safe side, however, Andreas also stopped at the first shady-looking shop he saw and purchased a blaster to wear alongside his carefully concealed lightsaber. He somehow doubted he'd find a heavy Jedi presence on Rodia but he didn't dare risk wearing his lightsaber openly.

Unfortunately, said shady-looking shop did not carry a single one of the parts he needed, and so he pressed on, occasionally brushing his hand against his blaster whenever he felt any particularly hostile presences nearby.

In an hour's time, Andreas had come to the conclusion that he didn't like Rodia.

In two hours' time, Andreas had found some parts that could be components to repair his lightsaber were he to need them and purchased them on the off-chance he'd find need for them at a future date, but at the same time he was getting the definite impression that the parts he needed for the _Cadence_ were simply not available on Rodia.

After four hours of searching, he was just about to give up, return to the ship, and hope he could hold it together with patches and Force tricks, when he suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder. He whipped around, his hand grabbing his blaster though not pulling it…yet. The chuckle that greeted him caused him to relax ever so slightly—enough so that he decided to leave the blaster in its holster, though his hand never left its grip.

"I understand you're looking for parts for a YT-700, yes?"

Andreas nodded, measuring up the man as he did. It was indeed a Human male, with close-shorn brown hair and a well-trimmed mustache, wearing a suit that had no doubt been expensive yet had also most certainly seen better days. The Force told him to be wary…but Andreas got _that_ sensation from nearly every salesperson he met, regardless of gender or species.

The man grinned and outstretched his hand. "Name's Paavo Graziano."

Andreas took the proffered hand and shook it as expected. "Andreas Phoenix," he replied, seeing no reason to bother with aliases—even if the Skywalkers did notice his absence, he had no expectations that they would bother searching for him.

He was surprised to be met with an even broader grin. "Ah, so you're the young man who won the Boonta Eve five years back!"

It took all of Andreas's training to not allow his jaw to drop. _What the…people actually still remember that?_

Graziano was a man who had spent the vast majority of his four decades of life reading the faces of potential customers to determine whether or not he could pull a fast one or if he'd be best going for a more-or-less honest deal. True, he wasn't exactly doing so well at the moment—moving his business to Rodia had turned out to not be the best gamble he'd ever made—but the fact that he still had a business at all on a planet so hostile to off-worlders proved that he hadn't lost his touch, and despite the boy's attempt to hide his surprise, Graziano could still see the signs. Laughing, Graziano said, "Kid, anyone who is a true fan of Podracing knows your name. You come out of nowhere, a Human kid in a sport where Humans tend to die in the first lap, and not only do you survive, but you beat _Sebulba_! No, not just _beat_ that blasted Dug, but disqualify him! And then, after pulling that incredible feat, you just vanish again, without a trace. Finding you on Rodia searching for parts for a Corellian ship…this is just surreal!"

Andreas was stunned. _Alright. Definitely need to come up with a new name. I did _not_ realize that I'd somehow become a celebrity because I managed to win one kriffing Podrace._ Finding his voice, he replied, "Sebulba had it coming. I was only too happy to be the one to rub his face in the dirt. Unfortunately, the lesson didn't stick. Now, you have implied that you have the parts I am looking for…?"

Graziano grinned. "Kid, my operation ain't exactly big…but that's because I don't bother with the common models that everyone else keeps on hand. Learned the hard way about actually _competing_ with the natives. You just don't steal business on a planet populated with assassins-for-hire."

Andreas smirked. _He actually had to learn that lesson the hard way!? I'll bet he wouldn't be calling me "Kid" if he knew what I was doing yesterday around this time…_ "Probably not a good idea," he concurred after realizing that Graziano was giving him a rather odd look.

Graziano cocked his head. "Well, if you'll just follow me, my shop's just down this way. I'm confident that I have what you need—I have eight YT-700s in the back."

And so it was, five hours after leaving the _Cadence_, that Andreas was finally able to return to the ship with the parts he needed in his arms and a mental note to keep in touch with Graziano—as long as he didn't go and get himself killed, Graziano could be a valuable contact to have if he had any future missions in the vicinity of Rodia.

* * *

Andreas spent the next three days alternating between reading Shmi's journal, repairing the _Cadence_, and watching Meghdut pilot the freighter. He found Meghdut to be far more amiable now that he had proven his worth as a mechanic; he only hoped that Meghdut spread the word, as it would make finding future rides far easier.

Now, however, the time had come. He watched out the viewport in awe as the _Cadence_ descended into Coruscant's atmosphere. He had never before seen such tall buildings or so much traffic and it was quite overwhelming for him. Perhaps seeing his discomfiture, Meghdut began to point out landmarks—the Senate Rotunda, the Galactic Museum, the Presidential Palace, the Republic Executive Building, and the Jedi Temple.

Upon seeing the Jedi Temple for the first time, Andreas found his thoughts wandering to Ben. He couldn't help but wonder how the Jedi was coping with the loss of Master Jinn and now, with the answer to that question so close, it was so tempting to just…but no. Andreas no longer feared the idea of meeting the random Jedi on the streets, but to actually walk up to their Temple and ask admittance? Such an act would be suicide, especially since he was no longer protected by the sanctions that disallowed the Jedi from interfering with Skywalker affairs.

Meghdut easily docked the _Cadence_ and turned to his young passenger. "You sure about this, Andy? Coruscant's not a nice place. You know I could use you here on the _Cadence_; what you've done with this ship is nothing short of miraculous."

Andreas smiled. "I'm sorry, Meghdut. I have a promise to keep and I've kept my…friend…waiting for far too long as it is." He reached down and picked up his bag, tossing the strap over his shoulder.

Meghdut sighed. "Worth a shot, though I kinda expected your answer wouldn't change. If you ever change your mind, I've got an open cabin waiting for a good mechanic." The Corellian pulled out a piece of flimsi and scrawled down a comlink code. "You ever need me, you can reach me here."

Andreas took the flimsi with a nod. "I'll remember that."

Meghdut extended the freighter's loading ramp. "Be careful out there, kid."

Andreas stepped out onto the ramp and took his first breath of Coruscanti air. He reached out and touched the Force; he could feel his Master's influence already, dark and welcoming. Looking back over his shoulder, Andreas gave Meghdut a broad grin. "Don't worry about me. I'm going to be just fine here. In fact, I think I'm going to like this place."

* * *

NEXT CHAPTER: The long-awaited reunion between Master and Shadow Hand and the true beginning of Andreas's training.

Once again, I apologize for the long wait. I won't make any promises about when the next update will be but I will promise everyone this: I will not abandon this story! I started it and I released it, and therefore I will finish it. For future reference, however, I have learned now to never post a story before I have finished it completely!

And by the way, note this: I do not bother trying to come up with names for trivial characters. If you see a character that has a name, that means that they will likely be popping up in future chapters for one reason or another, either in person or as mentions/thoughts/flashbacks/etc.

Thank you all, once again, for your patience, and I hope to not take nearly as long with the next installment.


	16. Reunion and Those Left Behind

**The Dreaded Yet Expected Author's Note:**

Thank you to my reviewers, to those who have added my story to alerts or favorites, and to my more anonymous readers alike.

Sources for this chapter include Wookieepedia.

Chapter 15 hasn't even been up for 24 hours while I'm writing this note and I already have 3 reviews for it! This has led me to celebrate…and has put me in the mood to (at least) start this chapter!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars; George Lucas does. I'm just playing with his galaxy. Please don't sue. I do, however, claim a certain level of understood ownership over my original characters and locations.

* * *

It took Andreas all of two hours to decide that he _hated_ Coruscant. He had thought that the air, of which his first breath had detected the distinct scent of recirculation and pollution, would become cleaner as he moved away from the spaceport; it had not. Not only that, but despite being actually a bit tall for his age, he was constantly finding himself being trampled and pushed around by larger beings that apparently knew where they were going. As for Andy…well, the Senate Building had looked so easy to find from the air, and he could _see_ it just fine from most places, but actually _getting_ there was turning out to be quite the challenge and, when he tried to ask directions, people gave him looks that asked him which school group he had strayed from.

At a loss, Andreas finally just found a spot where he could see the large mushroom-shaped building clearly and then started walking towards it. Descending into the lower levels of the city, Andreas was stunned at how different the lower levels were from the higher levels he was walking from. Up top, at least the only stenches in the air were smog and the telltale underlying odor that indicated that the air had been recycled at least once. Down here…well, he wasn't quite he _wanted_ to know exactly what he was breathing. Debris littered the walkways and the majority of the residents wandered around in spice-addled dazes while the rest kept wary eyes on…well, on _him_.

The Force warned him mere seconds before he heard the blaster discharge. In a blink, his lightsaber was in his hand and ignited, deflecting the blaster bolt back at its point of origin. He heard a muffled cry and the distinctive sound of a body hitting pavement. Extinguishing his lightsaber but keeping the hilt in his hand, he walked around a nearby Dumpster and found his assailant: a shoddily-clad Weequay male with a large hole burned into the right side of his chest. Andy clipped his lightsaber to his belt and sighed. _After any money I might be carrying, I suppose. Likely thought I'd be an easy target because of my youth. Imbecile._

Picking up the blaster laying next to the rapidly cooling corpse, Andreas continued on his way, ignoring the now-terrified looks on the faces of the nearby denizens.

* * *

It was nearly dusk by the time Andreas emerged next to the Senate Building. After the sixth attempt on his life during the journey, he had made the decision to wear his lightsaber openly, as the sight of the "Jedi" weapon seemed to dissuade would-be attackers. _Hopefully, if the Jedi hear that a lightsaber-wielder was meandering around the 'lower levels' today, they'll assume it was one of their own and not investigate further…_

Andreas quickly concealed his lightsaber and swept the area with a furtive glance, taking in his surroundings. He then adjusted his stance and began to wander towards the building, acting as though he were no more than another tourist—which, he considered mirthlessly, at the moment, he _was_.

He was stopped at the entrance by a guard. "Hey, kid! Visiting hours ended two hours ago."

Andreas met the man's eyes, frustration coupling with his anger. He only barely managed to restrain the urge to choke the guard on the spot. Right as he was about to turn and figure out another way in, however, the guard's comlink buzzed. The guard answered it…and paled as the voice of the Supreme Chancellor himself emanated from the small communicator. "Forgive me," Palpatine said, "but I've been watching the security holos all day in hopes of spotting my nephew when he arrived, and it appears that it is most certainly a good thing I did so! It is his first visit to Coruscant, so I would be most appreciative if you could show him to my office."

The guard managed to stammer an affirmative then clipped the comlink to his belt. "M-my apologies. I did not know…"

Andreas held up a hand. "It's quite alright. I understand; you were just doing your job and apparently Uncle assumed that I'd come earlier in the day. Unfortunately…well, let's just say this planet isn't exactly user-friendly to first-time visitors, especially when they choose to try to find their way unescorted."

The guard nodded and pulled out his comlink again, calling for someone to watch his post. Andreas stood at silent attention, waiting patiently until the new guard arrived, then followed his guide into the Senate Building. He listened in silence as the guard told him about the building and anything of interest that they passed on their way to the Chancellery Secretariat—and, by extension, the Chancellor's working office, where Palpatine was waiting for his "nephew's" arrival.

At the doorway, Andreas turned to his escort. "I think I can find my way from here."

The guard nodded, turned, and left.

Andreas turned to the door—the only barrier between himself and the Master he had waited so long to be reunited with. Taking a deep breath, he slowly reached out his hand and opened the door. At the sight of his Master waiting expectantly, Andreas walked into the office. "Forgive me for my tardiness, my Master," the boy said quietly. "The only rides I could find off of Demetria were smugglers…and the only smuggler willing to risk entering the Coruscanti space lanes was the pilot of a ship that I am honestly surprised did not fall apart before we were able to arrive at Rodia for the repairs it needed."

Using the Force to close the door behind his apprentice, Darth Sidious looked away to hide his grin as he felt his visions of the future coming even closer to becoming reality. "Oh, it is no matter—you are here now." The Sith Master motioned toward a chair, which came up right next to his desk. "Please, sit, my young apprentice. We have…much to discuss."

* * *

_**Meanwhile, back on Demetria…**_

Pierce and Shae Rieger were the first to discover the scene. Twenty minutes later, investigators were crawling over the scene, searching for any clues that could lead to the identity of the killer…and they found nothing. The next day, the local headlines screamed of how five people had been found dead in a suburban home, one having suffered a massive edema and the others showing signs of a mixture of electrocution, suffocation, and trauma. The odd thing, the article proclaimed, was that the woman's heart looked as though it had been squeezed until it exploded…and that there were no external signs to give clues of what had been used to cause the men's internal injuries or inability to breathe, let alone what had electrocuted them.

A teacher came forward to tell the press of a boy who had been expelled from the school where she taught because he had caused crippling injuries to another boy using only the powers of his mind. The Skywalkers caught the story before it ran and made it absolutely clear to the press that such stories were not to be printed…and then they quietly purchased the silence of anyone who had been involved in that affair.

Realizing that there was only one possible culprit in this terrible mass-murder—especially after a sweep of the crime scene by Alaric resulted in the discovery of a necklace he had once paid handsomely to have specially crafted for his late wife—Alaric and Rurik entered the hangar bay that had been claimed by the boy once known as Anakin Skywalker…and found it abandoned.

The next day, the Skywalkers decided that Andreas Phoenix had become too great of a threat to be ignored and they released an announcement to the press regarding Andreas's disappearance while omitting any reference to the fact that they suspected him in the slayings.

It was three weeks later when a grizzled Corellian smuggler named Meghdut was escorted into the palace with the news that Andreas was no longer on Demetria. Several apologies later, the three men sat down together and drafted a plan where the Corellian would do his best to keep tabs on Andreas until the Demetrians could figure out a way to ensnare the wayward boy and "bring him home," as Alaric put it.

As the smuggler left, the two brothers looked at each other and no words were necessary as they both acknowledged the truth that neither was willing to speak: if the smuggler was successful in his mission to return Andreas to Demetria, the boy was far too dangerous to be left alive…and neither of them, no matter what they might say to their world, felt themselves capable of eliminating this threat.

* * *

NEXT CHAPTER: Andreas learns more of what his purpose is to be and meets Dooku.

My deepest apologies for the shortness of this chapter and for how long it took me to write it. For a detailed explanation, please read the rambling paragraph following this. For everyone else, thank you for reading and know that things should be speeding up now that Master and Shadow Hand have been reunited.

I started writing this chapter at the end of June…and then Real Life took over in a big way. Since the day I started this chapter, my stepmother has had one wrist operation and will likely be going in soon to have the same operation performed on the other wrist, a bad pre-op EKG for her turned into a quadruple bypass surgery for my father, I finally got a new job…just in time for my old laptop to go up, I have been forced to learn how to navigate my way through Vista, several games I had bought for the old laptop that had never worked on it actually work on the new one and those have been quite the distraction, and just a myriad of other little things conspired against me until, once again, the story was saved by my good buddy Roxi, whose return inspired me to finish this chapter (even if it would be short and quite fast and lacking in details at the end...if this weren't just really a filler chapter in many regards I would go back and rewrite some of it but I would far rather spend my time working out the details of upcoming chappies) and get it posted for y'all. So, here it is. If you have a chance, let me know what you think…and, as I said at the end of the previous paragraph, the ride's about to get exciting now.


	17. Meeting Tyranus

**The Dreaded Yet Expected Author's Note:**

Thank you to my reviewers, to those who have added my story to alerts or favorites, and to my more anonymous readers alike.

Sources for this chapter include Wookieepedia.

Sorry for the delay in updating; couldn't get my brain into Star Wars mode and when my brain isn't in the right mode it is very hard for me write anything that I like in a particular fandom…fortunately, a recent review on this story forced my brain into the proper gear.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars; George Lucas does. I'm just playing with his galaxy. Please don't sue. I do, however, claim a certain level of understood ownership over my original characters and locations.

* * *

_Coruscant_

As Yan Dooku entered the LiMerge Power building—the abandoned manufacturing tower in the middle of the deserted industrial area known as The Works, where he and his Master tended to meet for training and discussing their plans for the future—he stretched out his senses to find his Master and realized immediately that something was amiss. _A Jedi, here?_ was Dooku's first thought and he almost broke into a rather undignified sprint to head off a potential attack against his Master when the realization hit him like a gust of Hoth wind. _No. The presence I am sensing is most certainly not that of a Jedi…who is this interloper?_

When Dooku arrived at the threshold of the room where he knew he would find both the stranger and his Master, he stopped in his tracks. In the middle of the room stood the source of the remarkable Force presence he had been following through the house: a gangly adolescent boy with long brownish-blond hair tied back in a low ponytail, easily moving through a Shien kata that younglings his age in the Temple would not have even been taught until they were at least two or three years older than this boy appeared to be. The older man was tempted to challenge the boy to a duel right there and then when he heard his Master speak from behind him. "Impressive, isn't he?"

Dooku nodded. "Quite. Who is he and why is he here?"

Sidious stepped out from the shadows, smirking slightly at his elder apprentice's apparent unease with the sudden appearance of the far younger darksider. _Yes, Lord Tyranus, you have reason to feel threatened—but not quite yet. Your skills in politics and diplomacy will be crucial in the next stage of my plans._ "Lord Tyranus, how goes things on Kamino?"

"If the project continues as it is currently, nearly 45,000 units should be ready by the end of this year."

"Excellent. Now, you have asked me the purpose of our young friend over there. It is quite simple, really. The time has come for you to begin the next stage of our plans: in order for the Republic to be rebuilt properly, it must first be destroyed. Your task, from this point on, is to convince as many systems as possible that it is in their best interest to secede from the corrupt, defunct Republic. Our young friend over there, in the meanwhile, will both assist your efforts and…silence those who might attempt to foil our plans."

Tyranus stared at his Master for several moments before commenting, "He is strong. I have never felt such a presence in my life."

Sidious nodded. "Indeed. He will make a fine dark Jedi—and an unparalleled assassin. Of course, it is imperative that there be no way for the boy to be tied to me if he should fail…"

Tyranus caught the hint. "I will see to it that he is provided with a ship and whatever weapons or armor he should require, besides what he already has." He hesitated a moment before asking, "My Master…if I were to find myself in a situation where I required the boy's services…?"

Sidious met his elder apprentice's eyes. "If he is not already otherwise occupied if such a need may arise, then yes, you may borrow him…just make certain to return him in one piece."

* * *

Andreas was doing his best to ignore the presence of the strange older man who was quietly chatting with his Master, immersing himself in his katas in the knowledge that his Master would call him over if introductions were in order.

In truth, part of the boy was still in information overload from the previous night. After the guard had left, Lord Sidious had first sat him down in his office and had informed him that the Galactic Senate was flawed. Yes, those who had created it had meant well…but the entire structure relied on senators who were popularly elected to represent their systems and it was far too easy for the corrupt to fool their populace into voting for them time and time again—and, as Chancellor, Sidious himself was bound by the Constitution to obey the whims of the Senate. In other words, he was leader in name only. However, Sidious had a plan—a plan with Andreas playing a pivotal role. In that plan, Andreas would go out and would _remove_ the corruption from the Senate while Sidious worked to convince the Senate to amend the Constitution to grant him the ability to do what needed to be done to repair the flawed Republic. At the end, Sidious had explained to his awed Shadow Hand, the goal was for the Sith to be at the head of a Senate that was selected by and acted only as advisors to their Chancellor, finally—after so many centuries of waiting—granting the Sith the necessary power to create the kind of government the galaxy _really_ needed…and to remove the taint of the Jedi from the galaxy. Sidious had then led Andreas to a speeder bay and brought him to this old building in what was obviously one of the bad parts of town. His Master had then saw fit to first put him through a series of drills to test everything he had learned since their separation. Once Andreas was truly and utterly spent, Sidious had then released a barrage of Force lightning upon the exhausted teen. The next half an hour was filled with Andreas performing Force-assisted acrobatics and trying to stay one step ahead of the relentless storm. This could only last so long, however; when Andreas finally collapsed, he instinctively grabbed his lightsaber and ignited it, throwing up the blade into the path of the new barrage that his Master had summoned (_after all_, his overtired mind rationalized, _it blocks blaster bolts, doesn't it?_) and was somewhat surprised at how the lightning actually seemed to be drawn to the ignited blade. In truth, Andreas had been utterly shocked by this exercise—yes, his Master had sometimes been a bit harsh during their training sessions, but never before had his Master actually employed anything that could actually _harm_ his apprentice…

In the end, the only thing that had stopped Sidious's attack was when Andreas's exhaustion had finally narrowed his mind down to one simple, undeniable fact: _I am going to die if this continues_. He then focused all of his frustration, fear, and anger into channeling the Force in one last-ditch effort to stop his Master's barrage…and the resulting wave that had echoed through the Force had thrown his Master back twenty feet into a duracrete wall, at the base of which the Sith Master had slumped in a concussed daze. Andreas—who had put every last ounce of his remaining energy into that last burst—had collapsed where he stood and, by the time he had awakened, the morning was already nearly gone and his Master had been nowhere to be found.

When Sidious had finally reappeared several hours later, Andreas had already explored the building thoroughly and had been quite pleased to find a fully stocked kitchenette and modest but more-than-adequate sleeping quarters already set up for him. The boy couldn't help but feel a pulse of pride when Sidious had informed him that he had surpassed all of the Sith Master's expectations the previous night. The apprentice had been especially pleased at his Master's shocked reaction when he had, after listening to his Master's praise, lifted his right hand, curled his fingers, and had created a small electrical storm of his own right there in the palm of his hand. Based upon how white his Master's face had suddenly gone and the nearly comical widening of his Master's eyes as he had taken a sudden step back, Andreas figured that Sidious probably hadn't expected him to figure out even that much of that little trick so easily. In truth, Andreas was no stranger to the phenomenon—he had discovered it on his own the week before, when his rage had overcome him when Rieger had attempted to betray him—but he was still smarting a bit from the fact that his Master had attacked him so mercilessly and so chose to simply enjoy the fact that he had managed to actually startle the older Sith.

Two hours had passed since then and Andreas was now patiently going through his katas and mentally smirking at the remembered look on his Master's face while hoping that his Master would soon call him over to meet this other man, whom he could only assume was the ex-Jedi placeholder his Master had adopted while waiting for Andreas to come of age to truly take on the role of Sith apprentice.

Several more minutes passed before Andreas ended his katas and clipped his lightsaber to his belt. He then turned and strode purposefully towards the two elder Sith, both habit and respect causing him to fall into a kneeling position as he arrived next to them. Patiently, Andreas waited for his Master to acknowledge him—and, as expected, he did not have long to wait.

"Yes, my young friend?"

Andreas did not raise his head. "My Master," he replied quietly, "I don't mean to intrude, but…"

Sidious stopped him immediately. "You are not intruding, young one. In fact, your timing is impeccable—I was just about to stop you."

At this reply, Andreas slowly rose to his feet. "Yes, my Master?"

Sidious nodded and turned to his companion. "Lord Tyranus, meet Andreas Phoenix."

The Sith called Tyranus turned to face the boy. "Young Phoenix," he said simply, "I am honored to make your acquaintance—and I would be even more honored if you would humor the idea of a short sparring session."

Andreas grinned. "I think I'd enjoy that very much, my Lord."

* * *

NEXT CHAPTER: Andreas makes his debut as an assassin.

My apologies for the shortness of this chapter but I felt that I had left all of you hanging quite long enough and it had reached a natural break. I will leave it to all of your imaginations as to how the spar would play out between Dooku and Anakin; perhaps you all could let me know what you see as happening and I can try and write a half-decent (*gulp*) fight sequence at the beginning of the next chapter based on who all of you think should be victorious (Dooku) and just how total the defeat should be.


	18. Death on Coruscant

**The Dreaded Yet Expected Author's Note:**

Thank you to my reviewers, to those who have added my story to alerts or favorites, and to my more anonymous readers alike.

Sources for this chapter include Wookieepedia.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars; George Lucas does. I'm just playing with his galaxy. Please don't sue. I do, however, claim a certain level of understood ownership over my original characters and locations.

* * *

_Coruscant – LiMerge Power Building_

There had been no contest.

Reflecting back on the events of earlier in the day, Andreas could not believe his own naivety. Yes, considering his age and the fact that it had been three years since he had been graced with a sparring partner, having to rely on katas alone for his training, his skill with a lightsaber was not bad—but it was nowhere near good enough for him to spar against the far more experienced Tyranus and expect to have a snowball's chance on Tatooine. Still, for a brief moment he had actually thought he might be able to break through Tyranus's defenses—and his attempt to do so had left him disarmed and dazed.

His only consolation was that his Master had teased Tyranus mercilessly on the fact that Andreas had even spotted that minor flaw in his defenses.

Tyranus had left shortly thereafter, claiming that he had a meeting with some senator, but Andreas knew that the other apprentice was just trying to save whatever dignity he had left at that point by making as hasty an exit as he could without appearing disrespectful.

His Master had left soon after Tyranus, as he had a Senate meeting to oversee, but not before informing Andreas to expect a visitor at some point that evening. Once he was alone, Andreas headed straight for the 'fresher to wipe off the sweat from his workout and then fixed himself a sliced nerfmeat sandwich, keeping his senses open for his expected visitor.

It was nearly dusk when said visitor finally arrived. Andreas, sensing his visitor's approach, headed down to the foyer, where he found a Human male waiting for him, clad in a hooded black robe. Upon coming into view, Andreas sensed the man's impatience become a mix of incredulity and skepticism. "You are a child."

"Actually, I'm a teenager," Andreas replied, more than a little annoyed. "I was told to expect a guest tonight. I was beginning to wonder if you were coming."

The man frowned. "Lord Sidious has made us many promises…and yet he has laid all of his hopes for the future in the hands of a mere _boy_? _You_ are…"

Andreas smirked as the man began to gasp for air—a smirk that became a feral grin as the man realized the reason that his windpipe was suddenly constricted. "If you care to live to see the future you are so concerned about, you will not question Lord Sidious's will."

The teen did not release the man until he was blue in the face, at which point he was not only using the Force to strangle the man but also to support him. The sudden release left the man facedown on the ground, gasping for air. "I assume there is a reason you were sent here," Andreas snapped to the breathless man. "I'd recommend you start talking."

And the man did, as soon as he was able. Andreas hovered over the kneeling man as he quickly introduced himself as Blayne, and gave his purpose as that of a messenger—after all, it wouldn't do at all for a man of Lord Sidious's standing to be seen frequenting the Works, a fact that Andreas found he readily agreed with.

Blayne then reached into his robe and extracted a message cube, which he laid on the ground at Andreas's feet. "The contents of this cube are for your eyes only—it can only be played by the holoprojector in the Works, and then only after it has identified you. Lord Sidious said that the cube will instruct you what you must do to prove your identity."

Andreas slowly knelt down and picked up the cube. Only once he was standing again did Blayne find his own feet and back slowly to his speeder, half-bowing the entire way. _Amazing, how fast a man's mind can change when confronted with death_, the thirteen-year-old mused as Blayne climbed into his speeder and then jetted away as quickly as he could. _I'll be impressed if he returns…and will enjoy hunting him down if he does not._

Turning abruptly, Andreas quickly made his way back into the building, not stopping until he had arrived at the communications console. He plugged the message cube into the holoprojector and waited for several moments as the holoprojector worked to recognize the cube. Once it had, an ambiguous voice emanated from the cube itself. "Please insert your index finger into the opening at this time."

Andreas slowly did as the cube asked, wary for a potential trap. He bit back a curse as the cube suddenly pricked his finger, yanking his hand away. After a moment, the cube intoned, "Identification confirmed. Message playback initiating…"

Andreas almost knelt when the image of his Master appeared, then remembered that it was merely a recording. "Greetings, my apprentice. I hope you have recovered from your exercise earlier; I expect that Lord Tyranus is likely still nursing his wounded pride." Andreas grinned at this; such a statement was great praise from his Master. "Now, to the task at hand. My spy network has identified a hindrance to our plans." The image changed and Andreas recognized the man quickly—Agrippa Aldrete, the former senator of Alderaan and current aide for Bail Antilles, his successor.

The hologram continued, "I'm certain you recognize this man—he was among the delegation to welcome Demetria to the Republic. He is blind to the corruption of the Senate and refuses to listen to reason…and he has begun to attract others to the cause of blocking me from what must be accomplished. I need you to silence him…discretely."

The hologram switched back to Sidious's cowled visage. "Further messages will be programmed to your biometrics and will not require this system to be unlocked. Destroy all cubes you receive after viewing them; it wouldn't do for someone to discover us through such a simple oversight as a discarded message, now would it?"

With that, the message flickered from sight. Andreas stepped forward, pulled the cube from the comm system, and tossed it up into the air. By the time it hit the ground, Force lightning had reduced it to slag.

A quick Holonet search revealed to Andreas the location of the Alderaanian delegation's suites on Coruscant…and that Senator Antilles was scheduled to be at the Senate Rotunda late that evening, his normal hours extended by a late-night meeting for which his aide would undoubtedly be in attendance.

Shutting down the system, Andreas turned to unpack the black outfit and helmet he had worn when avenging his mother, eager to redeem himself after his earlier humiliation.

* * *

_The Next Morning—The Jedi Temple_

Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi was up with the dawn. As he strode out of his room to make a mug of morning tea and start breakfast, he rapped twice on his Padawan's door. He was halfway done his first mug of tea, with two omelettes nearly ready for consumption, by the time that his Padawan—a 12-year-old black-skinned violet-eyed Zabrak—emerged from his room, rubbing bleariness from his eyes. "Good morning, Tanvir," Obi-Wan greeted the boy as he pulled out two plates for the omelettes.

"There's nothing _good_ about mornings, Master," Tanvir muttered as he plopped down at the table.

Obi-Wan chuckled, picking up the plates and carrying them over to the table, setting one in front of his groggy Padawan then sitting down with his own. "Yes, and as long as you persist in believing that, it will continue to be true, at least in your mind's eye." The young Knight—now all of 28 years old—flipped on the holo and switched on the news, as was his morning routine.

He and Tanvir were debating cheerfully whether the merits of the dawn sufficiently outweighed the sleep lost by awakening early enough to view it when the tones sounded from the holo that signified a breaking news story. Knowing that such stories were never regarding positive news—and that most ended up resulting in a Jedi team being dispatched—Obi-Wan and Tanvir both turned their full attention to the holo, which was currently displaying at the bottom of the screen in bold Aurebesh, "Death at 500 Republica!"

The Jedi stared at the screen in disbelief as the reporter named the deceased as Agrippa Aldrete, former senator of Alderaan and aide to his successor. According to preliminary examinations, the former senator had suffered a seizure while bathing and had drowned. No evidence of foul play had been found.

"Shame," Obi-Wan said quietly. "He was a good man. Perhaps…perhaps a bit less of a pacifist than his fellow Alderaanians, and his age lent toward him saying some odd things at times, but… I would not wish such a death on anyone."

* * *

_LiMerge Power Building_

"How did you do it?" The aristocratic voice of Lord Tyranus rang across the room as Andreas moved into his next kata.

Andreas smirked then schooled his expression before turning to face the new arrival. "Do what, Lord Tyranus?"

Tyranus swept across the room, his robe billowing behind him, until he was standing just before the dark boy. "Don't play dumb. I know that Aldrete has been a thorn in my Master's side for the past several months. Your appearance here and the former senator's sudden removal, both within mere days of each other…"

Andreas shrugged. "Any slicer worth his salt could find out Aldrete's suite number. I cloaked myself with the Force, waited until he showed up, followed him into his room, and then waited. I'd actually intended on stopping his heart as he slept…but then he decided to take a bath before sleeping, and I couldn't resist the opportunity."

Tyranus stared. _Dear Force, where did Sidious find this boy!?_

"Why?" he asked.

Andreas started and, for the first time during the entire confrontation, actually allowed a bit of emotion to slip through his tightly controlled expression. "I'm sorry, Lord Tyranus, but I do not understand what you are asking."

"What is your motivation? Why are _you_ working for Lord Sidious?"

Andreas frowned. "You first."

Tyranus was stunned at the boy's immediate rebuttal…but decided there was no harm in answering. After all, they were supposedly on the same side. "My motivation, young Phoenix, is to save the galaxy from itself. I have apprenticed myself to Lord Sidious because he shares my sentiments and is in the perfect position to enact the necessary changes."

Andreas nodded. "Lord Sidious told me his plans and asked if I'd be willing to help him."

"And your motivation?"

A feral grin graced the boy's face. "I intend to take your place, my Lord."

At that, Tyranus laughed, a deep chuckle that made Andreas feel all of a half-meter tall. The absurdity of what he had just said hit him and he prepared himself for death. _What was I thinking!? Tyranus used me to mop the floor yesterday! Why the kriff did I just call him out?_

Tyranus finally regained his composure. _He is overconfident and naïve…but both can be corrected with time._ "Perhaps," he intoned.

Andreas stared at him and Tyranus now graced the boy with a feral grin of his own. "Perhaps you will, in time. After all, betrayal _is_ the way of the Sith…and I have no intentions of remaining the apprentice forever."

The implications of what Tyranus had just told him made Andreas stare in complete, utter disbelief. _Tyranus…Tyranus intends to someday overthrow our Master. And, if he does…he intends to take me as _his_ apprentice…_

_The question is…when that day comes…where will I stand?_

Tyranus turned and headed for the door, calling over his shoulder as he did, "I am leaving the planet for a couple months. When I return, I would rather enjoy another sparring session."

* * *

NEXT CHAPTER: A check-in with the Skywalkers and with Obi-Wan and Tanvir.

Once again, writing took far longer than expected, and I apologize for that. Thanks again to everyone who has stuck with me through my long breaks between updates; y'all rock!


	19. Author's Note

_**Once the next chapter is completed and posted, it will replace this note.**_

Just thought I'd give everyone a heads-up on why I have not updated.

First and foremost, I am suffering from a severe case of writer's block. I have finally reached the conclusion, not so long ago, that perhaps my best course of action would be to skip forward a few years in the story. I am not going to focus on Demetria again until around RotS in the timeline. I _will_ write a bit about Obi-Wan and Tanvir at the beginning of the next chapter – more or less introducing how they met, as both characters will be important later.

Second problem is simply that I did not have enough time in the day to write when the mood did come on me. I spend my weekends away from my computer – it is a personal rule of mine that I abide by except for when the weather turns bad. During the week, I was working 8-5 with an hour commute each way. Well, as of last Tuesday, my job has ceased to be an issue – I now need to find another one as the company has closed permanently.

Third problem is that my imagination has torn away from this story entirely in the past couple of months. Of course, the writer's block is still an issue, which keeps me from being able to start those stories either (which is a shame – if I could simply get these other ideas mapped out, my mind might let them rest long enough to finish what I have started _here_). I am cursing my luck at discovering these other shows and fandoms. Still, it can't be helped, and I will likely find myself splitting my time amongst several projects.

Despite all this, my promise still stands. This story _will_ be finished. I just ask that all of you please bear with me.

I hope to have another chapter up by end of this month. I make no promises as to its quality but I have kept you all waiting for far too long.


End file.
